Community Members Aid Police Officer After A Woman Attempted To Steal His Car

A woman is in jail after police said she tried to steal a police officer’s vehicle and dragged him as she attempted to get away.

Rush Springs’ Police Sgt. Stephen Fish said as he fought to keep the woman from driving off.

Good Samaritans ran to his aid.  

“With us being a small town we all look out for each other,” Fish said.

Fish was working Saturday when he learned firsthand—in a church parking lot—just how much his community cared.

Hours after being released from jail, Rochelle High was caught driving without a license. While handcuffed in the backseat of Sgt. Fish's patrol vehicle. High didn’t stay there for long.

“I heard the air horn in a vehicle go off, and I turned around and looked, and low and behold, I saw her come in through the window, sitting down in the driver seat,” Fish said.

After slipping her handcuffs, High managed the impossible.

“How she got her body up to go into here I’ll never know,” Rush Springs Police Chief Chuck Clampitt said.  

Intense moments followed.

“I draw my duty weapon,” said Clampitt.

Pastor Tom Lemke was working nearby.  

“All of a sudden I watched the car and him in it slide backwards, and he was getting dragged,” Lemke said.

“The only thing I could think of was latch on to the door,” Fish said.

Without thinking, Fish ran to help.

“Something in me just snapped and said get over there,” Lemke said.

Lemke called for more help.

“Everybody was coming out of the houses, we were going to make sure our officer was safe,” Lemke said.

“The only thing I remember hearing him say is, we’re here to help you,” Fish said.

High smashed into her personal vehicle, a brick wall, and even people before she was stopped.

“We’re just glad everybody gets to go home safe,” Clampitt said.

Scraped and bruised—his car battered—Fish is grateful to put the uniform back on.  

“It’s like riding a bike sometimes you fall off but you get right back on it and keep going,” Fish said.

On Sunday, Lemke returned to the pulpit.

“He could’ve been ran over and hurt; she could’ve been shot and dead. I mean, there had to be a reason,” Lemke said. "God ordains our steps, so there had to be a reason for us to go over there and do something.”