A North Carolina police officer thanked both God and his friend — a chaplain trained in martial arts — that he was still alive after a desperate suspect with a long rap sheet placed him in a choke hold, bodycam footage indicates.
Last October, Scott Wilkos, a retired firefighter who now volunteers with Emergency Chaplains in Durham County, decided to celebrate his 52nd birthday in the best way he knew how: riding along with Durham Police Officer J.T. Rose, a friend he has known for more than eight years.
Wilkos rode shotgun on that fall day as Rose went about his usual patrol. At one point, the two spotted a vehicle apparently traveling more than 100 mph. Without engaging in a high-speed chase, Rose went after the vehicle. He and Wilkos soon found it crashed along a 15-501 exit ramp near Cornwallis Road in Durham.
At that point, Rose went to arrest the suspect, later identified as 35-year-old Demario Holman, who had exited the vehicle. “Get on the ground! Get on the ground!” Rose yelled, bodycam video revealed. “Do it now. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Face down, get on the ground.”
Despite those repeated commands, Holman apparently chose not to cooperate. Instead, he allegedly physically attacked Rose and managed to overpower him.
“He had one arm around my neck, the other arm going for my gun,” Rose later told another officer.
Wilkos, who has been practicing jiujitsu for decades, saw that Rose “was in real trouble” and sprang into action. He came up behind the suspect and wrestled him away from Rose — perhaps just in time. Rose may have been on the brink of losing consciousness.
“Thank God he intervened quickly enough,” Rose said of Wilkos, who seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
“I gotta stop letting you ride with me,” Rose joked affectionately.
In all, Rose suffered an apparent knee injury, and Wilkos suffered an injury to his hand after the suspect allegedly bit him during the struggle.
Holman also endured a laceration on his elbow, but first responders believe that injury occurred during the crash. Holman was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt at the time.
When asked at the scene of the crash why he was so eager to evade capture, Holman replied, “Go look in the car. You’ll see.” Inside the car, investigators reportedly found a loaded assault rifle as well as two bags of marijuana and a bag of white powder.
Holman, who already has a history of drug-related offenses, has now been charged with several more. He has also been charged with many other crimes, including assault on a law enforcement officer with serious injury and possession of firearm by a felon.
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