This story from NWCN could have had a whole different outcome
TACOMA, Wash. - A Tacoma police officer was hospitalized Saturday after three men and one woman assaulted him during a routine vandalism call on the east side of Tacoma.
Around 6 a.m. Saturday, the Tacoma police officer was responding to reports of people spray painting graffiti on a neighborhood wall. About a block away, he saw some young men with spray paint cans. The officer was in the process of arresting them when they attacked.
“They assaulted him. The first two were joined by others. One actually left and returned and they continued kicking and beating the officer until help arrived,” said Mark Fulghum, of the Tacoma Police Department.
But a neighbor and his wife saw the commotion, and while she dialed 911, this sheepdog went to help.
Help arrived first from Don Heinkle, who lives in the neighborhood. He was getting ready to walk his dog when he heard the commotion. He ran over from his house and jumped in to protect the officer.
“These four people - one was sitting on him and the others were hitting and kicking him,” Heinkle said.
They were also trying to get the officer’s gun unholstered. Wonder what they had in mind for that? After the 911 call, a number of other officers arrived quickly.
Heinkle - an ex-marine - says the four suspects did a lot of damage to the officer.
“I mean he had a welt on his head, on his chin,” Heinkle said. “His nose was bleeding, his mouth was bleeding, then I realized this was not just kids — they were trying to hurt him.”
The four suspects — a 19-year-old man, his 16-year-old brother, a 17-year-old cousin and a 21-year-old woman — were all arrested.
The young men who were arrested live in the neighborhood.
Say what you will about Tacoma and gangs, but this could happen just about anywhere, including here in Idaho. The wolves are out there, and there can never be enough sheepdogs. Thank you Don Heinkle!
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