Dawson County, GA — A police sergeant is resting at home after an attempt at being a Good Samaritan backfired on him.
Police say that Sgt. Randy Harkness saw a homeless man on the street and offered to give him a ride to a gas station.
The man accepted the ride and got in the police car. Officer Harkness drove him to a Chevron station at Hwy 53 and Georgia 400.
When they arrived at the gas station, Officer Harkness opened his wallet to give the man a few dollars.
Harkness is a 24-year veteran of the force, and didn’t like to be seen only as the ‘big bad cop.’ In fact, Sheriff Jeff Johnson said of Harkness, “He’s known and notorious for helping others.”
Just as Harkness reached into his pocket, the homeless man attacked out of the blue.
He started to pummel the officer in the face. Harkness was at a disadvantage because he was caught completely off guard.
The thug rained down blows on the officer’s head and face.
Gas station owner Aseem Khan was watching out the window and froze in shock.
He said, “ I’ve never heard of anything like this and it should have never happened. I was very worried he was going for the gun and thank God the police officer had his hand on the gun all the time,” said Khan.
Another Good Samaritan Shows Up
Thankfully, a woman driving by the gas station saw the police officer being badly beaten and she took action.
The unidentified woman pulled over and drew her handgun. She fired once at the thug and startled him. He jumped and stopped beating the cop. He started to run away. The woman fired another round, but the man kept running.
He ran across the street to the McDonalds next door. Once he got to the restaurant, he began to assault a woman in the McDonalds. But by then, police backup had arrived and the thug was promptly arrested.
The thug had a bullet wound in his leg, though police are unsure which shot hit him.
The police officer, the thug, and the assaulted woman all went to the hospital. The woman and Officer Harkness were treated overnight and released.
Sheriff Johnson sung the praises of the woman who stopped to help the officer. “I truly believe that she’s a hero. I believe that she potentially saved this officer’s life. We don’t know how far this suspect would have went with the assault,” said Johnson.
“Only the Police Should Have Guns!”
This is another example of why police shouldn’t be the only people with guns.
They can’t preemptively be at the scene of every crime, and sometimes they are the victims of a violent crime, themselves!