When a police officer in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania came under attack by a group of young people, the intervention of a citizen armed with a handgun prevented further tragedy.
The incident took place on Friday, February 5th. A police officer on routine patrol near Upper Darby High School broke up a fight between several students. In response, a group of nearly 40 young people began to harass and threaten him. Two young men stepped forward and began to physically assault the uniformed officer.
A neighbor in a nearby home took action. Armed with a handgun, he left his house and instructed the teenagers to cease and desist.
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood praised the armed man’s actions:
“There were 40 kids. If it wasn’t for the Good Samaritan stepping forward, he’d have been dead meat.”
Chitwood went on to note that the armed man avoided directly threatening anyone:
“”He had the gun in his hand, but he didn’t point it at the kids, he just told them to back off. If this guy didn’t come out and come to the aid of the officer, this officer would have had significant problems.”
The “Good Samaritan” remains unidentified at the time of this writing. Police reports describe him as a 35 year old man in possession of a Pennsylvania concealed carry permit.
The assault on the officer was part of a string of violent incidents near the high school that afternoon, according to local media reports.
I grew up not terribly far from there, and it used to be a nice place to live. Now, not so much.
Good for Mr. Citizen. A job well done. Good for Mr. Police that he didn’t charge the man for anything. We need more of that kind of cooperation in America these days.
So I guess their school has no respect for law enforcement? We are seeing more and more of this and it has to stop.
Perception is said to be stronger than reality. The perception today is that police can get away with murder and mayhem untouched. With this as their reality some people feel that they won’t respect the police because the police won’t respect them.
A broad black brush is used on all police officers, partially fueled by lurid sometimes inaccurate media. There must be more effort by police to assure their employers, the people of their community, that the police are there for them and not as an occupying army.
Some communities use police as revenue agents squeezing money from people. Sandra Bland may have been a victim, Ferguson and other nearby towns also seem to be doing this.
We need to live by respect and the rule of law but it has to be a two way street.
I worked on a project near there recently, carried everyday, guess if get assigned ther again I’ll need to bring backup!
I still believe “GOOD CITIZEN AWARDS” would be appropriate for these situations. Gun and ammo makers should establish an organization that would issue rewards for such actions, including discounted local range time, ammo, and even weapons.
Another ‘Good guy with a gun…’! When will these dim-wits in government begin to understand that concept?
Oh they do, but they have also have a much different view of life. The way they see things, you can’t completely control people who can protect themselves.
I’m in 100% agreement with you YaRt! I’m also sorry to say that IF this republic continues down the path that “they” have mapped for a “free” people, that the ‘good guys (and gals) with guns’ will be forced to revolt as we did in 1765. We are duty bound to that action and it IS completely authorized by one of the most revered documents in American history (The Declaration of Independence). I quote:
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”
When a government, such as the one in power here and now, ignores and continually bastardizes the U.S. Constitution (the Supreme Law) as “they” do, “We The People” have the right and duty to reclaim and preserve OUR nation and way of life. That IS the reason the Founders bestowed us with the Second Amendment!