Communication is often key when it comes to emergencies, so what happens when that fails and those who need help can’t reach assistance?  As the Guthrie County Sheriff’s office found out this week, sometimes you have to rely on the help of a Good Samaritan.

When Deputy Kent Gries found himself in the middle of a one-on-one fight with a suspect he was trying to arrest early Sunday, he was without the help of his K-9 partner, his Taser didn’t subdue the man and he wasn’t able to call for backup.  Sheriff Marty Arganbright says unfortunately, sometimes equipment just doesn’t work well in certain areas.

“Sometimes the portable radio is hard to get to dispatch, either you can’t hear it or it doesn’t perform like it should.  Portables are notorious for that” says Arganbright.

While the Sheriff says this is concerning, it’s not surprising.

“I have repeaters in the vehicles to make it stronger.  Sometimes when you’re on a portable, another county can walk over you so you can’t get it over across to dispatch.  I think the bigger thing is, better than radios or anything like that is having backup in the area so, which at that time there wasn’t backup in the area.”

So when a passing motorist who saw the deputy struggling stopped to help, Sheriff Arganbright says it made all the difference.

“It changed the course of what might have happened but we’re more than grateful to say the least that he stopped and helped.”

The Sheriff says it’s not always a good idea for someone to get in the middle of an incident involving law enforcement and a potentially dangerous suspect.  When it comes down to it, Arganbright says it’s up to the individual to decide if they think they can handle and what they are willing to take on.