There are heroes among us and around us every day.
Last week when big-city crime came to the small town of Hancock, there were many helping hands. Police and fire personnel worked together with townspeople to apprehend a suspected carjacker who had the bright idea to try to steal Officer Frank Shea’s cruiser from out in front of the Hancock Market on Main Street.
From the get-go, police knew something was awry. First, a car registered in Derry was found up to its wheelwells in mud abandoned on a logging road. Then, reports came into the police station that a “suspicious” man was knocking on doors on Bennington Road asking to use a phone. Edson Ware told police he had spotted a man behind the historical society.
And when Shea approached the suspect on Main Street, Bill Eva and Nevan Cassidy were watching the scene from inside the market, where Eva was dropping off syrup and Cassidy’s wife was buying meat from the butcher.
As the story goes, Nevan turned to Bill and said “This guy just hit Frank and took off.”
And the chase was on.
Michael Munroe, who also was a suspect in a bank robbery in Seabrook, led police in a chase around the market and Post Office.
There may have been others involved, but we know for sure that Shea, Cassidy, Eva, and Assistant Fire Chief Tom Bates took part in a chase Cassidy would later say must have looked like a “Benny Hill skit.”
And when Munroe leaped into the cruiser and attempted to shift it into drive, he was quickly yanked out and held down until the cuffs were on. (Talk about a citizen’s arrest.)
“Thought for a half second about tackling the guy,” said Eva, 78. “Twenty years ago I might have done it. I just tried to get in front of him. Slow him down.”
In the end, three members of the Fire Department were there to help Shea. As Bill put it, “The type of people who join the fire and police are the type of people willing to help.”
These men show the true spirit of community policing, and the region is safer for it.