U.S. Marine and His ISIS-Fighting K-9 Assist Colorado Springs Police Officers in Foot Pursuit and Capture of Dangerous Felon
You’ve heard that a Sheriff’s Deputy lost his life in the line of duty on Feb. 5th, just less than 48 hours ago. Well, our Organization headquarters are now located in Colorado Springs, CO where that horrific event took place and just yesterday morning, while Victor and Eileen Marx were driving to ATP headquarters, Victor a Marine veteran was able to pay back, just a little bit of help to our men and women in blue who help us EVERY day.
Right place at the wrong time? Wrong place at the right time?
While driving, Victor saw two men running on the median across 6 lanes of traffic. His first thought was, “Are these two young men running across this busy intersection for kicks?” The second guy was all in black and was quickly gaining on the first, then the first guy stumbled on the ground and got up and started fighting off what Victor now assessed was a police officer (plain clothes detective). The third man, an officer in uniform, was making his way through fast moving traffic on foot as the suspect and detective continued into a Walmart parking lot, where the detective took down the suspect by himself.
Victor had already pulled up onto the center median and had gotten out of his vehicle with his multi-purpose service K-9 Scout, a highly Trained Belgian Malinois who served alongside Victor just this past summer in Mosul Iraq, helping reach children affected by ISIS in very hostile, non-permissive environments.
Joining the Chase
The Former Marine now turned international child advocate told his bride, “you’ve got this vehicle” so I can assist. Victor in a full sprint with his K-9 got to the scene where the suspect was down but fighting the detective. He put Scout directly in front of the suspect (meaning put her to Platz, a down and ready to engage on command if necessary), which proved to be an intense and intimidating place near to the suspect’s face.
Victor quickly jumped on the suspect to help while the Detective yelled at him to watch his hidden right hand because he had a weapon. Victor, a 7th degree black belt did a leg lock on him and together they got him onto his belly. This 52-year-old Marine and grandfather grabbed the suspect’s left arm and cranked it behind his back and held him and commanded him to stop resisting, as he got the right arm out and grabbed the weapon and secured it away from the suspect. It was right during that time that the suspect saw Scout and stopped resisting. Trust me. If you saw Scout when she is switched on, you’d stop too!
The team of the Detective and Marine now had full control of the felony suspect and got the weapon away and the standing officer arrived in perfect time to give Victor a pair of handcuffs which Victor used to cuff the suspect in a way that said to the officer “He has done this before!” They then followed text procedure and asked if he had any other weapons.
When he stopped resisting, and was all cuffed, Victor got off and let the officers take it from there. The Detective looked at Marx and gave him a fist bump and said, “Thank you! Who are you with?” Victor replied, he wasn’t with anyone. “You mean you’re not an officer?” “Nope. We just want y’all to know we are here for our law enforcement officers and we all are thankful for what you all do for us.”
At that point, other patrol cars rolled up. Check out the video. Mrs. Marx captured some of the incident while she waited in the car on the median.
Victor reflected on when he has had to run with his gear and kit on in the past, “Let me tell you, to run with a full body kit and a weapon is tough. You get winded and it makes the whole thing more challenging. I ran last summer in Iraq with a kit on when helping recover or rescue children from ISIS territory. These Police Officers and Sheriff deputies, both guys and gals, are tough, self-sacrificing folks.”
Victor filled out a report when this was all over and wrote in it, “that I commend both officers for putting their lives on the line. They had a long, intense, dangerous chase through 6 lanes of fast moving traffic to catch a known felon with prior contact who was concealing a weapon in his sleeve.”
All of this happened not even 24 hours after the death of another officer in their local force and here these people were putting their life on the line again. “They make a daily choice to strap on body armor and do all the dirty work so we can be safe. They don’t get the recognition they deserve and I thank God that I was able to pay them back with this small amount of help.” stated Marx. “Just remembering the loss of our fine deputy – just yesterday – I don’t want to see any cops lose their life or get injured by a thoughtless criminal.”
Pray for your Adversary
When he was holding that guy down with the officers, Marx prayed for him quietly. “I hope his time in jail will have him turn his heart toward God and come out of darkness.” Victor went on to say, “We’ve got to stay tough not hard, as we at times are required to hand out judgement with mercy. Pray for your enemy, doesn’t mean you can’t handcuff your enemy, but you pray for his soul and his healing and that he finds the way out of the darkness.”
And above all, Victor Marx reminds us to, “PRAY for the men and women who protect us, even from ourselves sometimes. They are people just like you and me and they deserve our gratitude and love and respect. Our hearts break for those who have lost their lives, giving us safety in ours. Pray for the wife and two young children of fallen Sheriff Deputy Micah Flick. Pray for the officers I met today, while they willingly did their tough job. Pray for peace.”
Post Script:
The detective Victor assisted in capturing this felon also provides self-defense and gun safety training. You can check out his operation here at BraveDefense.
