It started as a normal day of training, but it ended with a man in cuffs and a pair of Kansas Highway Patrol troopers possibly saving a life.
“It was the first time I ever dealt with anything like that,” says Trooper Tyrell Barker, who is in day 51 of 70 days of training.
A first also for another man.
“It was just weird pulling up on something like that,” says Sean Patty.
Sitting next to each other Monday afternoon are Patty and Trooper Barker.
“They started to pull over and put their lights on, and after we got a little closer, you could really tell what was going on,” Barker says.
The two hadn’t met until Thursday, but together, they have a story to tell.
“It was fast,” Patty says. “You can just see the fists flying.”
“As soon as I pulled up behind him, we could tell the driver was hitting the passenger,” Trooper Barker adds. “I hit my siren to kind of draw the attention of the driver to us.”
Patty just happened to be trailing the trooper on I-35 on Monday when he saw a driver beating the woman in his passenger’s seat.
“It was amazing that they were in the right spot at the right time,” says Patty.
“Myself and Master Trooper Connolly exited the vehicle. He went passenger side, and I went driver side, and we got him hooked up,” says Barker.
“Had they not been there what was I going to do?” asks Patty.
It’s the type of thing that may go unnoticed but Patty wasn’t having it. He posted a thank you message to the Kansas Highway Patrol Facebook page. That post got shared by other troopers and eventually got back to Barker.
“They need to be recognized,” says Patty. “There is just so much negativity towards police officers.”
“I was caught off guard when we got that email that somebody had posted about that,” Barker says. “It was pretty cool.”
Thursday, Patty thanking the humble hero himself.
“I just want it to be known that we did not do anything any other troopers would have done, any police officer, any deputy,” Barker says. “We were just in the right place at the right time.”
Troopers say the man was arrested, and the woman stayed at a safe place for the night.