Halifax Regional Police are thanking a Good Samaritan whojumped in to help two officers as they battled a suspect over a Taser.
Police were trying to arrest a man they believed was trying to sell a stolen cellphone but he resisted the arrest and began to fight the officers.
The officers managed to get the suspect on the ground and tried to use a Taser on him but it didn’t work and he grabbed the Taser from them.
“The individuals were trying to get control of the individual and ended up on the ground in a big melee,” says Const. Pierre Bourdages.
Police say two bystanders – an off-duty police officer and a courier driver - jumped in to help. The courier driver managed to grab the Taser from the suspect, allowing the officers to gain control of him.
“The adrenaline didn’t really kick in until afterwards,” says Nate Warren. “My hands were shaking. My legs were shaking.”
Warren had just finished making a delivery in the area and was parked in an alley when he observed the altercation outside a coffee shop across the street.
“I had the window down and all of a sudden I heard ‘stop resisting, stop resisting,’” says Warren. “All I know is that there is a very large man fighting with the police.”
The former correctional officer heard a call for backup and realized the police officers needed some help.
“One officer was down around his legs and the other one was basically trying to get him down on the ground,” says Warren. “I basically tried to control the one arm that had the Taser in it to make sure that he wasn’t going to hit one of the officers.”
Police say Warren’s actions were risky and potentially dangerous, and they typically don’t advise bystanders to get involved, but they say, in this case, Warren did the right thing.
“We’re very grateful for his help,” says Bourdages.
“I just feel like anyone with my knowledge and my training would have done the same thing,” says Warren. “I didn’t do anything special.”
As for the suspect, he is facing several charges in connection with the incident, which happened Monday afternoon in the area of Kaye and Young streets in the city’s north end.
Jedidiah Fortune, 28, is charged with resisting arrest, obstruction, possession of stolen property, attempting to disarm a police officer, uttering threats, two counts of assaulting a police officer and four counts of breaching a previously imposed court order.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell
