Marine Sergeant Steve Whitaker saving the world
Chief Tango sends us the story of Marine Sergeant Steve Whitaker who came upon an accident near Columbia, SC MO. The driver of a flipped vehicle was lying in the middle of the highway and crawling towards the fast lane. Whitaker pulled the obviously intoxicated Charles Yelm to safety, while Yelm protested that he didn’t want to go back to jail. When Yelm, left the scene after Whitaker called for help, the sergeant followed him;
Whitaker said he saw Yelm approach a nearby home.
“I followed him, just because I didn’t know what he was going to do,” Whitaker said.
That home belongs to Kenneth Lammers, who said he was originally worried that Yelm was injured.
“He was lying between a bush and my front door,” Lammers said. “He got up then and told me he didn’t want to go back to jail. I asked him if there was anyone he wanted to call, and he said no.”
Yelm then entered the Lammers’ home.
“When I walked up to the house, I saw him in the laundry room,” Whitaker said. “So I tried to open the door, but Yelm held it shut.”
Whitaker said Yelm eventually let him in.
“I introduced myself to the couple, let them know I was a Marine,” said Whitaker. “I made sure to put myself in between them and him in case he was going to try anything.”
When Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Cooper County Sheriff’s Department arrived, Whitaker said Yelm tried to escape.
Category: Politics
All kudos to SGT Whitaker, but this drunken idiot story and what PN sent me in e-mail just now have put me on the floor laughing.
I do hope that Yelm did not deposit anything in that washing machine.
Some drunk shows up at Ol’ Poe’s door and tries to gain entrance, he might quickly learn the meaning of the term, “dead drunk.” A very high percentage of violent crime is committed by people who are intoxicated so it’s very risky dealing with a total stranger who’s shit-faced drunk, especially after he’s let you know he doesn’t want to “go back to jail,” and he’s fleeing from the scene of a crime.
Time to invoke the Castle Doctrine.
I believe there’s a special place in hell for drunk drivers. They just don’t know when to stop. And they’ll keep on going until they kill someone. I am glad and grateful for a man like Sergeant Whitaker to come along and take one of these scumbags off the roads. Who knows? If Yelm had managed to escape, how many people might he have killed at some point in the future? I wish they could keep Yelm locked up forever. Unfortunately, Yelm will be back on the road in a few years.
What was the Missouri State Patrol doing in South Carolina?
Ok. Good. I was not the only one saw that. Whew.
I assume it was Columbia, MO not SC. But that begs the question of what the Marine SGT was doing there. Unless he was on leave, not a whole lot of USMC posts in MO last I checked
Marine Recruiter?
Oh yeah, didnt think of that
BRAVO ZULU, SGT Whitaker!
He put himself between the drunken cockroach and that family to protect them like any Real Warrior would. I have no use for drunk drivers, my Dad is a retired Judge, and he never hesitated to “Throw the book” at every DUI Offender that appeared in front of him. As for SGT Whitaker being in MO, my bet is he was on leave, a Recruiter, or a Reservist.
Columbia is in Boone County, not Cooper County. My brother is a Boone County deputy.
KOMU Channel 8 is in Missouri. This is a Columbia MO report, not Columbia SC.
The thing that caught my attention in this story was that Sergeant Whitaker introduced himself as a Marine, and the recognition and relief that brought out in the homeowner.
That just kind of brightened my day.
The Marine did good, of course. This story confuse me. I may be an unfrozen caveman, but why are Missouri State Troopers responding to a drunk driver incident in South Carolina? I imagine they have enough drunks in MO to keep themselves busy enough.
See above!
Yeah, Smitty was posting while I was still typing on my phone thing.
” and crawling towards the fast lane”
Ummm, Sarge, maybe just let him go…..
Just sayin’
Way to go, way to be Sergeant Steve Whitaker!
I do NOT believe he really is a Marine!
No REAL Marine would see a man low-crawling, and NOT scream at him to keep his head and butt down.
😀
This marine really did not want to make it to formation!