SCOTT COUNTY, IN (WAVE) - Shane Deaton considers himself the average country guy. But for what he did inside the Hardy's Café people tell WAVE 3 they are thankful.
"He was here at the right place at the right time," said Steve Phillips, bar and café owner.
Around 11:30 p.m. on November 10, Deaton, 33, was just having a beer when he noticed people arguing. He stepped outside when a man came out.
"'Don't be alarmed,'" Deaton told us the man said. "‘I'm an officer out of Washington County.,'"
Police said Randy Elam, 26, is the suspect.
"I knew he wasn't a cop," Deaton said.
Deaton kept an eye on Elam. As Deaton played his guitar, he noticed something.
"He flipped his coat back and I seen the gun. I thought 'oh man,'" said Deaton. "Suddenly, the adrenaline just started going all through me."
Deaton said he instinctively leapt into action. In surveillance video, you can clearly see a struggle ensues.
"He pulled the gun out, I grabbed his wrist and twisted the gun out of his hand and went backwards and I kept the gun behind my back," said Deaton as he demonstrated with his hand behind his back. "And the guitar back here and was yelling for everyone to grab the gun. I'm like 'Gun! Gun!"
Deaton said he tried to pass the gun to the bartender, but in the video Elam appears to tackle Deaton. He finally managed to pass the gun to someone behind the bar.
"I'd say he's a hero," Phillips said. "I'd say he say he saved somebody's life that night, maybe more than that."
"I don't feel like one. I feel like I've got bragging rights, but I don't feel like a hero," Deaton said. "I think anybody else would've done the same thing in my situation."
When asked if he would do it again, Deaton said, "Yeah ... without a doubt."
Elam is being held in the Scott County Detention Center on several charges, including impersonating a public servant and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon. His bond is set at $50,000. Phillips said he plans on using the surveillance video as a training tool for his bartenders and servers.
Copyright 2012 WAVE News. All rights reserved.
Deaton subdues the alleged attacker inside Hardy's (Source: Hardy's Cafe)
Where the incident happened on November 10, 2012
Shane Deaton
Another look at the incident inside Hardy's (Source: Hardy's cafe)
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