Let\u2019s pretend that you\u2019re driving down the street one day and you see a fight on the side of the road. One of the individuals has a knife, and he begins swinging it at the other, unarmed combatant. You don\u2019t know who is the good guy and who is the bad guy but you know that things can turn ugly rather quickly. As a licensed concealed carry permit holder, you have a firearm on your person. Do you intervene? Do you stop and watch? Or do you just keep on driving?<\/p>\n
Nick, a Salt Lake City man who declined to give his last name, was in that exact situation on March 17. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was just in my car on North Temple, I saw a guy pull a knife on another guy, a fight ensued, the guy with the knife was swinging it several times at the unarmed person,\u201d Nick told Fox 13. <\/p>\n
Nick, a retired police officer, did what he thought was right. He stopped, walked up to the scene, drew his gun, and pointed it at the knife-wielding suspect. <\/p>\n
\u201cI told him to lay down on the ground and he stayed there,\u201d said Nick.<\/p>\n
Nick then called the police, still holding the man at gunpoint. Meanwhile, several bystanders began to film the incident. Shortly thereafter, several of the witnesses began instructing Nick to lower the weapon. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not going to do nothing put the gun down, he\u2019s not going to do nothing, put the gun down,\u201d said one witness.<\/p>\n
While Nick was on the phone with 911, the pleas continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point an accident could happen, he\u2019s on the floor, there\u2019s a bunch of us out here, there\u2019s no need for you to be pointing a gun to a man\u2019s back whose face is on the floor,\u201d said another witness. <\/p>\n
However Nick wasn\u2019t about to capitulate to their demands. He was in control of the situation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt could have turned out ugly if I didn\u2019t have experience or I didn\u2019t have the training,\u201d said Nick.<\/p>\n
He also said that no one else made an attempt to de-escalate the situation or contact authorities. <\/p>\n
\u201cNobody called 911, nobody reported it, they are all worried about getting video so they could be famous or whatever they are,\u201d said Nick.<\/p>\n
When Salt Lake City Police arrived, the officers handcuffed the suspect. Upon questioning the suspect, he claimed that he was trying to retrieve a stolen bicycle from the other man. After questioning the alleged thief, he apparently denied any wrongdoing. Both men declined to press charges. <\/p>\n
As a result of the incident, police wanted to remind the public that it\u2019s best not to get involved, suggesting as Fox 13 reported, the police need witnesses, not heroes. <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes people get involved and sometimes we catch people because they get involved but we never suggest that because we don\u2019t like to see people get hurt,\u201d said spokeswoman Robin Heiden with Salt Lake City Police.<\/p>\n
But Nick has no regrets about how he responded. <\/p>\n
\u201cI see somebody in need of help it\u2019s just the right thing to do, the wrong thing to do would of been to turn my back and have somebody be stabbed because I didn\u2019t do anything,\u201d said Nick.<\/p>\n
So, what are your thoughts? Do you think Nick did the right thing? Should he have just kept on driving? Should he have just recorded the incident on his cell phone like the other witnesses? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following an incident where a CCW licensee held a knife-wielding suspect at gunpoint, police said they need witnesses, not heroes. Do you agree? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":34950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,262,216],"tags":[132,291],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gunsamerica-authors","8":"category-defensive-use-of-firearms","9":"category-s-h-blannelberry","10":"tag-buzz","11":"tag-dgu"},"yoast_head":"\n