Bystanders put suspect in chokehold as he attempts to grab cops gun
Thomas McDonald
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Multiple bystanders jumped in to help an officer struggling with a suspect who was attempting to steal the officer’s firearm.
“The suspect resisted, and it turned into the suspect and officer on the ground rolling around with the suspect trying to get the officer’s Taser and then the officer’s gun,” said Modesto Police spokeswoman Sharon Bear.
The officer responded to a report of a potential vehicle burglary outside of a food and liquor store in Modesto, California, on Tuesday. Bear said the officer attempted to pat down the suspect because of the loose clothing he was wearing.
Bear said the suspect had managed to pull the officer’s gun partially out of its holster, breaking through three safety mechanisms in the holster. Still, the officer maintained a hold on the suspect’s hand and prevented him from removing the gun entirely.
“His holster was actually hanging down and he had broken two of the safety restraints that keep someone from taking an officer’s gun,” witness Mark Davis told local media.
The officer yelled for help as the suspect was grabbing for the gun. Two men and one woman ran to the officer’s aid. They pried the gun out of the suspect’s hand and separated him and the officer, Bear said.
“There was an officer and three others,” the witness said. “This girl puts him in a chokehold, and that’s what it took to take the guy down and to help that officer.”
“Each person had a limb, holding him down,” he added. “I don’t know if the officer would have gone home to his family that night if that guy would’ve been able to get his gun.”
The suspect, Daniel Steffens, who sustained injuries to his head, was ultimately arrested on charges of attempting to take a firearm while resisting arrest, attempted murder, and resisting arrest.
“We just want to say ‘Thank you,’” Bear told reporters. “We appreciate you assisting our officer, helping keep him safe and our community. We don’t know what kind of tragedy could have occurred.”
Watch the encounter here caught on surveillance footage: