Two Michigan men were hailed as heroes after they helped a state trooper in a desperate struggle with two men - one who had resisted arrest, and his brother who intervened. The entire brawl was captured on the trooper's dashcam.
The video shows Trooper Garry Guild pursuing Michael Barber, 21, who was riding a stolen motorcycle near the Indiana border last month. The chase reaches speeds over 90 miles per hour before Barber eventually loses control and crashes. The video then shows him charge Guild and fight him as the trooper tries to handcuff him.
That's when a car pulls up and Barber's half-brother Travis Wise, 19, jumps out, runs over and attacks Guild, applying a chokehold. The trooper struggles with the brothers for several minutes, with Wise choking him and Barber punching him. Guild later told a court hearing that he thought he was going to die and decided he needed to use deadly force, but that Barber had tried to unholster his service weapon and it was lost in the scuffle.
"I am gasping and struggling for air, to the point where I can't breathe," Guild told the Detroit Free Press.
The video then shows two motorists stop and pull the brothers off Guild. Keith Pepple, 50, of Plainwell, Mich., jumped in first and pulled both brothers off the trooper, putting one and then the other in a headlock. Then Jerry Burnham, 44, of Berrien Springs, Mich., helped pin down Wise while the trooper handcuffed Barber.
"I guess everything happened so fast, you don't really have time to think about it," Pepple told the newspaper. "I just saw that he needed help. And I decided to help."
"They stopped when other people were not stopping to help a police officer who was being attacked by two people," Michigan State Police Lt. Melinda Logan said. "Without regard for their safety, they came in and rescued the trooper until he was able to gain control of the suspects and place them under arrest.
"Without them, I don't know what would have happened to the trooper."
Guild injured his neck and jaw in the brawl and injured his hand trying to use his Taser. But he was back on the job the next day.
Barber and Wise have been arraigned on multiple felony counts.
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The video shows Trooper Garry Guild pursuing Michael Barber, 21, who was riding a stolen motorcycle near the Indiana border last month. The chase reaches speeds over 90 miles per hour before Barber eventually loses control and crashes. The video then shows him charge Guild and fight him as the trooper tries to handcuff him.
That's when a car pulls up and Barber's half-brother Travis Wise, 19, jumps out, runs over and attacks Guild, applying a chokehold. The trooper struggles with the brothers for several minutes, with Wise choking him and Barber punching him. Guild later told a court hearing that he thought he was going to die and decided he needed to use deadly force, but that Barber had tried to unholster his service weapon and it was lost in the scuffle.
"I am gasping and struggling for air, to the point where I can't breathe," Guild told the Detroit Free Press.
The video then shows two motorists stop and pull the brothers off Guild. Keith Pepple, 50, of Plainwell, Mich., jumped in first and pulled both brothers off the trooper, putting one and then the other in a headlock. Then Jerry Burnham, 44, of Berrien Springs, Mich., helped pin down Wise while the trooper handcuffed Barber.
"I guess everything happened so fast, you don't really have time to think about it," Pepple told the newspaper. "I just saw that he needed help. And I decided to help."
"They stopped when other people were not stopping to help a police officer who was being attacked by two people," Michigan State Police Lt. Melinda Logan said. "Without regard for their safety, they came in and rescued the trooper until he was able to gain control of the suspects and place them under arrest.
"Without them, I don't know what would have happened to the trooper."
Guild injured his neck and jaw in the brawl and injured his hand trying to use his Taser. But he was back on the job the next day.
Barber and Wise have been arraigned on multiple felony counts.
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