Viral Video Shows Police Officer Neutralizing Angry Knife-Wielding Man ... By Hugging and Comforting Him
What could have been a bloody scene at a police station ended with no one getting hurt, thanks to the compassion and kindness shown by a police officer.
In a viral video that Faithwire says has been viewed more than 50 million times over the past 24 hours, Thai police officer Anirut Malee is shown calming down an angry knife-wielding man who entered a police station in Bangkok.
In a classic case of disarming a would-be assailant with words instead of weapons, Anirut calmly spoke to the 45-year-old would-be assailant, eventually convincing him to hand over his knife. The police then gave him a big, warm hug.
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The incident, which happened on Saturday, was captured on CCTV and later shared online.
Anirut found out later that the man was a former musician who had been working as a security guard for three days and had not been paid. His guitar was also stolen, causing him to freak out due to stress.
"I heard him out and sympathized and said I had a guitar to give him, and suggested we go out for a meal together. We were conversing in Southern Thai dialect," Anirut told ThaiVisa.com.
The kind and good-natured cop earned tons of praise online for his sensible action. The unnamed man who barged into the police station was sent to a hospital for an evaluation of his mental state. No charges were reported.
It was just one of several inspiring acts of kindness and compassion shown by police officers in the month of June alone.
On Thursday, Khou.com reported about a viral social media post that showed a police officer helping an elderly man with a cane and carrying three bags to a bus stop in North Charleston, South Carolina.
The officer had no idea he was being photographed by a pedestrian, who saw his act of kindness and shared it on Facebook.
In another incident, which happened last month in Logan, Utah, a police officer warmed the heart of a blind elderly woman when he sang a song at her request—" You are My Sunshine"--after helping her fix her microwave.
The woman named Shirley Hardman said she called for police assistance as she was home alone and was worried by the beeping sound of her microwave.
She said the police officer who responded to her call for assistance "was so pleasant and he had such a nice voice — he stood there and sang it beautifully," according to HJ News.
The Christian Post earlier reported about a police officer in South Hill, Virginia who made a young girl's birthday memorable earlier this month when he went to her family's house to give her some gifts—after the girl turned his gloomy day into a bright one by warmly greeting him on the street.
