FORT SILL, Okla. -- The quick actions of a Fort Sill Soldier prevented a carjacking, helped Lawton police officers apprehend the would-be carjacker, and possibly saved a life.
2nd Lts. Brandon Hatzel and Jocelyn Herrera, students in the Air Defense Artillery Basic Officer Leaders Course Class No. 01-18, had just taken a tough exam March 19, and decided to go to the Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Lawton for lunchtime.
While ordering, the Soldiers heard people yelling in the parking lot. They looked out the storefront and noticed a police officer chasing a guy.
"I thought that's weird, then I saw that same guy jump into a white car and the car started shaking," Hatzel said. "A young girl in the cafe said, 'That guy just jumped in my mom's car.'"
Hatzel ran outside and noticed the police officer was completely out of breath and had drawn his pistol. Hatzel asked the officer if he needed help.
"Yes, this guy's a wanted felon, help me get him out of this car, but be careful," the officer told Hatzel. (Hatzel later learned that the suspect had just been tased, and had wrestled with the officer.)
Hatzel said he believed the suspect was going to kill the car's driver, a middle-aged woman, who he described as freaking out.
"I had to make that decision in half-second about what I was going to do, and I committed to it," he said.
He entered the car and got in the back seat where the suspect was.
"He closed the door on my (right) arm, which made me mad, then we just went at it," said Hatzel, who is a Florida National Guard Soldier. "He screamed at me, I'm going to shoot you, too, b****.'"
Hatzel said he kept watching to see if the suspect was armed. A fistfight ensued.
"He did get in one really good punch on me," said Hatzel, touching the remnants of bruising on the side of his face. "It hurt and was bleeding." He said the suspect was wearing a heavy ring, which inflicted the injury.
"The ring was massive, it was huge," he said. "It left what looked like perfect cross on my face."
Hatzel, who stands 5-feet, 8-inches tall, and weighs about 155 pounds, described the suspect as taller than himself, and much stockier. He believed the suspect was on drugs because he seemed to be exhibiting chemical strength. "He was so ridiculously strong."
The close-quarters fighting continued in the car.
"I had him in a choke hold, but he managed to get away," said Hatzel, who wrestled at Montville Township High School in New Jersey and studied jiu-jitsu growing up. At one point in the fight the suspect scratched the back of Hatzel's head.
The suspect got out of the car, and then he ran across Sheridan Road toward the Rent-A-Center with Hatzel in pursuit.
"Cars were braking trying not to hit us," Hatzel said. "When we were running, I was watching for a knife or a gun -- I was worried about that."
Inside his head, Hatzel said he could hear his dad saying, "You're not wearing a protective vest."
Hatzel said he could see taser wires imbedded in the suspect's body because his shirt was torn. Still chasing him, Hatzel lunged for the suspect's hair.
"I grabbed a fistful of hair, and I yanked as hard as I could because I wanted to throw him down on Sheridan Road," said Hatzel, "then his ... wig came off in my hand."
Hatzel said he finally tackled the suspect in front of the Rent-A-Center. The suspect then crawled inside the store, where they wrestled. Store employees realized what was happening, and literally sat on the guy with Hatzel until the police took over.
Once things settled, Herrera grabbed Hatzel by the collar and took him to the Rent-A-Center bathroom to clean him up. "You could have gotten hurt!"Herrera told him.
They went back and retrieved their smoothies. Inside Herrera's car, holding his drink, Hatzel accidentally crushed his Styrofoam cup from the adrenaline rush.
Back on post, Hatzel said he immediately reported the incident to his command. His captain said good job, but he also emphasized the risks involved.
"Sir, I understand, but something had to be done," Hatzel said, to his battery commander. Hatzel also told his parents Susan and Don -- a retired police officer with 31 years on the Montville police force, now living in Melbourne, Florida.
"He wasn't too happy," Hatzel said of his father's reaction. "He tried to do the 'Atta Boy,' but it wasn't there." And, once his mother learned the details of the incident, she didn't like it, either, he said -- probably just as any parent would who wanted their son to be safe.
The police officers on scene encouraged him to press assault and battery charges against the suspect, Hatzel said. Lawton Police Department officials called to thank him, and said they were sending him a thank-you letter through his command.
Hatzel reflected back on his actions.
"I didn't want to be there, but I had to be, though. My only concern was for that woman," Hatzel said. "If he had a gun and shot that woman, I never would have been able to sleep again."
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