Two Mansfield firefighters are being hailed as heroes for trying to stop two very dangerous crimes within a little more than a month of each other.
In late May, Assistant Chief Mike Ross was leaving a Mansfield shopping center parking lot with his wife when he witnessed a man steal a woman’s purse. Ross said the woman had placed the purse in the trunk of her car while she unloaded other items.
“She was being approached by a man from behind, from a parking spot across from hers, so I thought it was strange – I thought perhaps she knew the man,” Ross said. “Turns out she didn’t, because he picked up her purse and took off to his car. She gave chase and started pulling on her purse strap. It looked like it was about to become violent, so about that time I pulled in behind his vehicle. I guess my thoughts were, 'Ok, I’m going to block them in.'”
As the man tried to get away, Ross tried to stop him.
“I threw a couple of punches at him to try to, I guess, create a moment for me to get in there and try to search for the purse, which I attempted, but I think they threw it into the back seat,” Ross said.
The driver hopped the curb and sped off, but Ross said he believes both the driver and passenger were arrested at later times.
And, just days ago, firefighter Daniel Gaskey took down a man suspected of trying to rob a Midlothian convenience store.
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“I looked up, and there was a guy standing there with a black mask on. Like I said, he moved me out of the way and walked up to the register counter and pulled out a knife and set it on the counter and told the lady, 'Give me your money,'” Gaskey said. “And I stood there for a second, it was a quick assessment, quick reaction, not too much to think about, [I] jumped on his back, knocked him to the ground, got my arm around his neck and told her to call 9-1-1. And then I rolled him onto the ground, just sat on him, maintained control of his arms, until the police got there.”
In both instances, the firefighters said they were in the right place at the right time to help, and they couldn’t imagine not doing so.
“You gotta do the right thing,” Gaskey said. “Sometimes the right thing is the scary thing to do, but that’s why we keep doing it. You gotta stand up.”
