PSA, park employees come to officer’s aid during incident at Gatewood

By MIKE WILLIAMS
The Patriot

Three Pulaski County Public Service Authority employees and a Gatewood Park employee are being considered heroes this week after coming to the aid of a Pulaski Police officer last week following an incident at the park.
At Tuesday’s meeting of Town Council, Pulaski Police Chief Jill Neice described what happened.
Neice said on Monday morning, July 10 at about 11 a.m. a call came in to the police department concerning an assault in progress at Gatewood.
“We were told a gentleman – not from Pulaski – had maliciously wounded one of the Gatewood employees,” Niece said.
“When our officer [Jimmy Stone] arrived, he was immediately attacked by the man who was quite a large, strong individual,” Niece said.
“All our officer could do was hold the man until backup arrived,” which she said took a few minutes.
Niece said luckily, three PSA employees – Scott Saunders, Kevin Johnson and Nicholas Edwards – and a Gatewood employee, Steven Malloy came to Stone’s aid and helped contain the attacker.
“If not for them, Stone said he thought the incident would have turned out to be a deadly force incident,” Niece said.
“It was incredibly dangerous, at their own peril, they intervened and it was courageous,” Niece told council.
“If people don’t know, Stone is not a small man,” noted Mayor Shannon Collins.
Niece and Town Manager Darlene Burcham agreed.
“Usually he can hold his own,” Burcham added.
“When you hear a call like that come in and you’re a good distance away, it’s hard to sit and wait [for word],” Niece said. “Everyone was on pins and needles.
“Had it not been for those men, it might have turned out differently for the man and maybe for our officer,” she added.