A bystander in Louisiana became an unlikely hero after she interfered as a suspect was attacking a police officer.
Baton Rouge resident Vickie Williams-Tillman, 56, was listening to gospel music as she drove to Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart for a day of shopping when she noticed the officer struggling with a man on the side of the road, The Advocate reported.
When Williams-Tillman rolled down her window to ask Baton Rouge Police Officer if he needed help, he didn’t respond – simply locking eyes with her.
“I could see in his eyes he needed help,” Williams-Tillman told The Advocate. “You don’t have time to think about it … I did what God needed me to do.”
She then did the unthinkable: jumped on the attacker’s back until more police officers arrived to help.
The 44-year-old officer had found the man asleep in his car just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, police said, adding that drug paraphernalia was visible at the time.
As the suspect, 28-year-old Thomas Bennett, exited the car, he became aggressive and grabbed the officer’s baton, using it to repeatedly hit him in the head, police said.
Bennett also grabbed the officer’s flashlight and radio and attempted to take his gun from his holster.
“She made a big difference,” Baton Rouge Police spokesman Sgt. L’Jean
McKneely said of Williams-Tillman’s actions.
Bennett was detained after he was hit by a stun gun fired by a second officer who arrived on the scene.
Bennett, Williams-Tillman and the officer, who was not identified, were taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries.
The officer, a 21-year veteran of the force, suffered wounds to his head, McKneely said.
Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome called Williams-Tillman a “hero” who demonstrated “the true meaning of loving God and loving your neighbor” in a statement.
“Vickie Williams-Tillman epitomizes the true Good Samaritan Weston-Broome said. “She reached out and offered a courageous and unconditional response to the officer.”
Bennett was charged with aggravated battery, disarming a police officer, battery on a police officer, resisting an officer with violence, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
(H/T: The Advocate)
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