AndrewBlakeStanton, KY – Two citizens got out of their car and helped a Stanton Police Department officer who was fighting with a suspect who was armed with a knife.
The incident happened April 1, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
A police officer noticed a disturbance near a bank and convenience store and made contact with the suspect, Coty Sparks, according to WLEX-TV.
Sparks fled on foot. The officer chased him down, but when the officer caught up with him, Sparks began to resist arrest.
Austin Tharpe of Stanton and Oppie Garner of Mount Sterling were in their cars when they noticed the police officer struggling with the suspect on the ground as the suspect was grabbing for a knife that he had clipped on his side pocket.
Tharpe and Garner held the suspect’s arms while the police officer grabbed the knife.
“They do so much for us and to see him having trouble getting the guy to listen, it seemed like it was best to help out with the situation, especially since he had a knife,” Tharpe said, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “Someone could have easily gotten hurt.”
Garner said he was just trying to help out.
“It’s a small town,” Garner said, according to the Herald-Leader. “Just about everybody knows everybody.”
Sparks was arrested. He faces charges of fleeing and evading police and resisting arrest. Sparks also had two bench warrants.
The Clay City Police Department, Powell County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police also helped out at the scene.
The police thanked Tharpe and Garner for intervening.
“These two individuals did the right thing by stepping in to help law enforcement rather than standing around hoping to record the next viral video on their phones,” the police department said in a statement, according to WLEX.