A similar thing (female officer's size) resulted in that Atlanta judge being shot last year and that escapee kidnapping a lady at an apartment.
Posted on 06/05/2006 9:34:49 AM PDT by A. Pole
HOLLY SPRINGS -- A Cherokee County city plans to honor a Good Samaritan who helped a 5-foot, 4-inch female officer subdue a drug suspect who stands nearly 7 feet tall.
Officer Julie Ann Welch stopped a car on May 10 on Highway 5 because the driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
She says the passenger, Mike Schmidt, of Canton, was acting suspiciously so she told him to get out of the car.
"He just continually disobeyed my commands," Welch tells WSB-TV. "He kept putting his hands in his pocket. He was shaking horribly."
Welch says she found cocaine and drug paraphernalia on Schmidt.
Her dashboard camera caught the following scene: As she starts to handcuff Schmidt, he struggles and tries to run but Welch refuses to let go.
"I would pull him backwards off balance and try to pull his shirt, but I couldn't reach that far up," she said.
Welch and Schmidt crossed the road and landed in a briar patch, still struggling.
Steve Walker saw what was happening, and helped Welch subdue the man.
"He showed up after we started rolling around in the briars," Welch said. "It makes the police department feel really good that our citizens support us in that manner and will come and help us."
The mayor and police chief will present Walker with a commendation for bravery at the next City Council meeting June 19.
Schmidt is free on bond. He declined to talk to WSB-TV.
Channel Two correspondent Terry Mann contributed to this story.
Guess that's the long and short of it.....
This tiny woman needs a nice desk job before she kills someone she is unable to subdue.
Equal Rights Now bump!
good point
It would be too discriminating.
It certainly was rather reckless to attempt to subdue someone like that without any backup.
Maybe we should have some basic strength requirements for cops like we do firefighters. Nobody could call it sexist then. If a 5'-4" woman can bench 220 lbs, let her be a cop.
A man 5'8" or so, or 6' would still likely have a tough time with someone so big - especially if the driver had gotten involved in it too. The big guy seemed pretty mellow - not hitting, just rolling around.
Is there some disgrace in calling for back-up?
Mrs VS
Short women are people too. She should have let him run though. She had his car and I.D.
He now faces a stretch in jail.
Hah ... I met a 5' 4" (ish) bloke in England last summer, who could probably have shoved that suspect's feet down his throat, and tied him in knots. He was a bona-fide 'football' hooligan, whose hobby apparently was travelling to Germany and stirring up fights.
I wonder if this will follow the normal pattern and Steve Walker's boss will find some way of using this as a reason to fire him.
thats the long and short of it......
Uh oh. This "little lady" will be getting a talking to about this statment. The last thing the cops want is for regular folks to "help" them.
Sounds like a fun guy to party with.
There's probably a lot of male cops that can't bench 220.
I'm 5'9", 200 lbs, can bench 275 but I'd probably have a hard time with a 7' tall guy on cocaine.
I never watched the "Dukes of Hazard" much but I never understood why the cops bothered to chase the Duke boys. Their car was distinctive. I imagine everyone knew where they lived. Just show up some night and arrested 'em. But noooooooooooo. Boss Hogg would smash 3-4 police cars a week in a failed effort to chase people he shouldn't have been chasing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.