Witness recounts moment firefighter hits charging man with tool in Grand Crossing
A response by Chicago police and fire crews quickly escalated after a firefighter used what looks like a crowbar to knock down a man who was attacking him over the weekend.
The confrontation was captured on video by a witness who was leaving a South Side church. A source told CBS News Chicago that this started as a call for help for someone experiencing a mental health crisis, but then quickly escalated.
As mass ended on Sunday at a Grand Crossing Baptist church, the crowd stood outside and spotted a shirtless man and called 911 for help.
"At this point, he's coming across the street asking us — did we call police? Did we call the fire department? Like we didn't even know his intentions," said Cherokee Mahomes.
Mahomes was with her 3-year-old daughter and other family members and said it was an unsafe situation. She started recording the man and the lone police officer on scene. The officer held a stun gun.
"He walked up on her first, she told him, like, ' Back up,' she moved back."
The man then charges at a firefighter on scene. The officer unsuccessfully fires the stun gun before the firefighter uses a metal bar to knock him out.
The video later shows the man up and alert. More officers arrive as he's cuffed and taken into custody to receive medical treatment.
"He did what he had to do," Mahomes said. "He swung the weapon and he protected himself. And I noticed ... he had empath, because after he swung the weapon, he dropped it on the video and walked up on the man to make sure he was ok."
CBS News Chicago asked if the group saw any presence from the city's CARE team — the mental health crisis response teams which callers need to request for help when they call 911.
"There has to be enough coordination and communication so that when a mental health crisis is called in — the care team can be one of the first, if not the first priority," said David Harris, law and criminal professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Mahomes didn't know if someone asked for CARE, but calls the firefighter her hero.
"I feel like he protected us. He's my hero to me. I'm on his side."
The man who was struck will make a full recovery.
Chicago police said they are still investigating the incident.
