Criminals & Heroes

This is Lee. I guess I'm a guest writer on Lara's blog.

I wanted to write about an incident we had today in our neighborhood.

A couple of bad guys led the good guys (local police) on a high speed chase that started a couple of cities away but ended up right in our own neighborhood! The elementary school Emma and Eva were at went into lock down. Many mom's were frantic because the first calls from the school didn't explain much. All anyone knew was that there were 2 men on the loose in the neighborhood and they were armed.

To make a very long story short, all turned out ok. BUT it only turned out ok because one of our neighbors is a real life hero. He happened to be on the scene as a police officer but thought he would simply be back up to the back up.

To make another long story short, he and another officer happened to find one of these dumb criminals lying under a car. They held him at gun point and got him on the ground to be cuffed, but as they were going to cuff him he jumped up and decided to fight. They threatened to shoot him but he didn't care. (He was high on something and CRAZY!)

Because these two officers are usually not in the field, they were dressed in suits and only had a handgun - no billy club, or taser, or any other weapon. As they fought with this very big and strong guy, who tried many times to get their guns, they took shots to the face and at one point they fell to the ground, right on our guys ribs.

To make another long story short, everything ended up well, with the bad guys behind bars, but it is humbling to know that our very own wonderful neighbor was right in the thick of it, placing his very life on the line, to protect and serve!

I (Lara) wanted Lee to write this because he heard about it first hand, nothing exaggerated.

Now I would like to add a little from a mother's perspective: Today something happened that I hope no one ever has to go through. Not knowing what is going on with your children and not being able to get to them is the scariest feeling I have ever felt. To see my children's sweet faces coming out of the school safe and sound was indescribable. I am so impressed with the way things were handled at the school. The teachers and faculty were amazing and words cannot describe the emotions I feel toward these officers that kept us all safe today.

I already have a special place in my heart for police officers. My brother is one and a very good one at that. Just like Lee said, they lay their lives on the line for our safety every day. Because of what happened today we've got some new heroes at this house and it is an honor to be able to call one of them our neighbor and friend.