Legally Blind Man Helps Officers Get Control During Struggle: 'I Wasn't Going To Walk Away And Let Them Get Hurt'
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The citizen who jumped in to help Fort Worth officers who were struggling to control two suspects, shared his mindset at the time with CBS 11 on Wednesday.
I just wasn't going to walk away and let them get hurt, or those young men get hurt, because they clearly didn't want to hurt anybody. They didn't hurt anybody, and its just one of those situations where you listen to what God tells you to do," said Jim Walker.
The incident happened on the west side of Fort Worth outside a bank on Camp Bowie Boulevard on Saturday, April 6.
Police responded to a call about shots fired by a couple of teenagers. As officers approached them, police realized the 17-year-old had a Glock 22 in his waistband. It was loaded.
When officers started to detain the boys, they started fighting back.
At that point, police not only had two suspects to control, there was a loaded weapon they hadn't been able to secure yet.
That's when Walker, who was with his service dog, Cassie, came out of the bank and asked if they needed help.
They didn't say "yes" right away, but as the struggle continued, Walker jumped on top of the 17-year-old, holding him down on the ground well enough that one officer could get up and put the gun away.
Police said one of the boys later admitted they had been firing the gun in the area.
"I heard some intense conversations. Looked over there and noticed there were police cars behind our vehicle. Two of em," said Walker as things were starting to get out of hand.
As he stood there, the officers tried to control the boys with one hand and the loaded gun with the other.
"When you live life you know when two guys are struggling. And so I could see good enough to tell there was a struggle," Walker said.
That's when he jumped in.
It wasn't until it was all over that the officers realized Walker really hadn't seen what was going on. He'd only heard it. He told the officers, "Can't see y'all."
Walker said Wednesday, "They really didn't need my help. They did an amazing job, but I wasn't going to walk away and let them get hurt."
Walker said he had trained to be a police officer in the 1980s until he started to lose his eyesight. Now he's a counselor who helps people with their careers after they experience an injury or disability.