Tom GantertWhitmore Lake, MI – A Good Samaritan came to the aid of an officer fighting to subdue a man with a knife in Livingston County (video below).
The incident occurred after Hamburg Township Officer Sergeant Megan Paul chased a suspect vehicle down Main Street, through the parking lot of Polly’s Market, and onto the front lawn of a Whitmore home, WDIV reported.
The man had run from authorities after he was referred for a psychiatric hold, WHMI reported.
The suspect jumped out of the red pickup truck he was driving and Sgt. Paul tried to calm him down, but failed.
The man was carrying a knife in his belt, WDIV reported.
He tried to climb back into his truck but Sgt. Paul stopped him.
She was fighting with the suspect for control of the knife when a painter who had stopped at Polly’s Market for dinner offered to help her.
“We wrestled for 10 to 15 seconds,” Sgt. Paul told WDIV. “I had the knife in my hand, the handle, the butt of it. He was trying to get it from me.”
That’s when Good Samaritan Ray Bolis arrived to intervene.
Bolis stopped his motorcycle next to the suspect’s vehicle and stepped up to assist the officer.
“I put my hand on the suspect’s neck and arm and told the officer, ‘I’m here to help. What do you need?'” Bolis told WDIV. “At that point, she had said, ‘Get the knife. Get the knife.’”
The Good Samaritan said he couldn’t find the knife but Sgt. Paul grabbed it and threw it behind her.
“If he would have gotten hold of that knife, it would have ended very badly for one or both of us,” Sgt. Paul said.
Two more civilians jumped in to help and assisted Sgt. Paul and Bolis in handcuffing the suspect, according to WDIV.
“It was definitely something I wouldn’t want to see ever again, actually,” Bolis told WDIV. “I’m glad it had a good outcome where nobody was hurt and the officer made it home to her family and kids, she told me.”
The incident was being investigated by the Northfield Township Police Department, WHMI reported.
Watch the video here: