Posted on 07/02/2012 8:33:15 AM PDT by marktwain
Dennis Terry decided to take a different route to the post office Thursday morning, and it’s a good thing he did.
While driving on College Avenue near downtown Athens, he saw a man and woman struggling over a bag. When Terry stopped and backed up to see what was going on, he saw the man punch the woman, knocking her to the ground as she still clung to the bag.
“I had the windows up but I could hear the first lick he hit her with because it was so hard,” Terry said.
Terry didn’t think twice about what to do next.
The 61-year-old Athens man grabbed his pistol and jumped out of his truck.
“I went running toward them and started hollering. ‘You get down and turn her loose or I’ll shoot,’” Terry said in an interview Friday with the Athens Banner-Herald.
“I got within about 15 feet of them and told him to ‘get down or I’ll shoot’ two or three times, and when he saw I meant business he turned her loose and ran,” Terry said.
Terry, who used to own a construction company and is now a semi-retired consultant, said he only learned later from the police that the man had a gun he stole from the victim’s SUV.
“Things could have turned out in a bad way, but I will tell you this, if he had come at me with that gun I would have shot him,” Terry said.
The man who Terry confronted is 57-year-old Samuel Tyrone Evans, a career criminal who served nine terms in state prisons, beginning in 1972. He most recently got out of jail on June 12 for a drug-related arrest.
About 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Evans broke a window of the 26-year-old Comer woman’s SUV while it was in a parking lot on College Avenue between Ware Street and Cleveland Avenue.
The woman returned to her vehicle as Evans rummaged through it, and that’s when the fight began, Athens-Clarke police said.
After Terry intervened, Evans led police officers, sheriff’s deputies and other authorities on a manhunt through heavily wooded areas along railroad tracks in and near the downtown area. Evans was arrested more than five hours after the attack as Georgia State Patrol troopers saw him in the area of Willow Street and North Avenue. Evans ran into some woods when the troopers tried to speak with him, and after officers set up a perimeter around the area, they eventually found and arrested him.
Evans was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, entering auto, battery and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.
His victim was treated at Athens Regional Medical Center for several injuries, mostly bruises and scrapes, according to police.
Terry makes daily trips to the post office, normally driving from his business on Newton Bridge Road and remaining on it until it becomes Barber Street and dead-ends on Prince Avenue.
For some reason, on Thursday morning he decided to make a left onto Cleveland Avenue, then take College Avenue to get downtown, leading him past the scene of the violent struggle.
“I think this was a case of God putting people in someone else’s life,” Terry said. “When I saw what that man was doing to that lady I was really concerned for her, and I don’t think I did anything that anyone else would have done under the same circumstances.
“I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped because that man meant to hurt her; he meant to hurt her bad.” he said.
• Follow Criminal Justice reporter Joe Johnson at www.facebook.com/JoeJohnsonABH or www.twitter.com/JoeJohnsonABH.
For some reason, on Thursday morning he decided to make a left onto Cleveland Avenue, then take College Avenue to get downtown, leading him past the scene of the violent struggle."
I really don't think they needed to include all that information in their report. Unless they want some of the perp's friends to be waiting for Mr. Terry some day.
They always run. They know you can't shoot them once they turn tail and run because, supposedly, they're not a threat anymore.
So... is there any kind of legal requirement for a citizen who intervenes in such a case to shout out a warning at all? Just run up and shoot the SOB point blank a couple of times in the chest or head. No warning.
That way, you save the girl and the bad guy doesn't get another carnival ride on the legal merry-go-round. Society and everyone who matters is better off. Just asking.
Indeed. Agree.
However, one would not have been surprised if the media narrative evolves and the rescuer was labeled an out-of-control vigilante out to exact racist revenge. . .you know, like the Zimmerman and Saint Skittles shoot.
Sad thing is, based on some comment on the Zimmerman/Saint Skittles threads, some here on FR would be on the side of the media.
I hope he isn’t sued by the crook. Lawyers could screw with him big time on the stand for jumping into the middle of a situation he didn’t know much about except what he saw.
That said I’d probably do the same thing. If he’s in a place where enough libs are around who hate gun owners it makes doing this kind of thing something they’d try to put you away for. Since when are you an officer? Do you know how this started? How do you know he was not an officer? How did you know she hadn’t taken his wife’s handbag? These are the things scummy shysters twist away on on decent folks.
For every bag of Skittles you bring to court, the judge will excuse one strike.
Totally depends on how much legal system exposure a person wants. The guy did the right thing...legally...and while I agree with you, the potential for a long legal battle is very high if he chose the LibWhacker option.
In all the CCW classes I have attended, (in three states) a theme that is constantly emphasized is that CCW permit holders are NOT law enforcement agents. Preventing a felony is perfectly acceptable...attempting to apprehend (or punish) a person committing a felony is shaky business.
“He most recently got out of jail on June 12 for a drug-related arrest.”
Stupid drug laws, getting in the way of a person (Evans) trying to make a living.
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