Police honour city man for bravery
MAN HELPED OFFICER WITH ARREST OF VIOLENT OFFENDER
A local man who stepped in to help an officer during a serious altercation has been recognized for his actions.
Allan Black received an LPS Chief’s Certificate of Recognition on Wednesday at the regular meeting of the Lethbridge Police Commission for “bravery and selfless actions that assisted police with the arrest of a violent offender.”
“I cannot express enough how much I want to thank you,” said Chief Rob Davis, shaking Black’s hand. “Especially in this day and age, when most people would dig out their phones.”
On Oct. 4 last year, Const. Chris Stock responded to a report of an aggressive male who was damaging vehicles and fighting people along the 200 block of 5 Avenue North.
Upon arrival, the subject fled the scene on foot. Stock intercepted and confronted the man a short distance away.
At that point, the man became combative, turning on Stock.
The man punched Stock twice in the face and attempted to gouge his eyes in order to avoid arrest.
“He came at me swinging, and it turned into a street brawl immediately, unfortunately,” Stock said. “It was like a hockey fight.”
Stock said after fighting with the man for a full minute, he became winded.
With witnesses on scene, Black approached the officer and asked if he needed assistance.
“I said yeah, get in here,” Stock said.
Black said he had been following the suspect and was watching as the fight broke out between the two men.
When they fell to the ground, Black saw the officer was in distress.
“The main thing was that it looked like he had his hands full,” said Black. “And nobody else was doing anything. They all had their phones out.”
Black approached the man from behind, tripped him to the ground, and was able to help hold the man and put him in an armbar so Stock could apply handcuffs.
“It was a brawl,” Stock said. “But it would have been a lot worse if Mr. Black hadn’t stepped in.”
While police are sometimes called on to intervene physically on behalf of the public, Stock was visibly moved by the thought of a member of the public returning that service. “It means the world,” he said. “It’s nice to know there are people out there who still want to help.”
Black said he simply reacted to the situation.
“You can’t turn your back on something like that,” he said.
Stock said in his 17 years in policing, the incident marked one of the toughest fights he has been in.
“(The suspect) was high on (methamphetamine) and drunk,” Stock said. “His pain tolerance was through the roof. You could have hit him with a sledgehammer and he wouldn’t have gone down.”
What made the situation more dangerous is that the man had some skill as a fighter and was able to mount a defence against Stock.
“I haven’t had that happen very much in 17 years,” he said. “This guy knew what he was doing.”
Davis said without intervention, the situation could have been much worse.
“Without your intervention, it is likely the fight would have been prolonged or resulted in serious injury to the officer or the subject,” Davis said. “Instead, the man was taken into custody without further incident and charged accordingly.
Black said he was surprised by the certificate.
“This is really neat,” he said. “It was unexpected. This is going up on the wall.”
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