Benjamin Saks helped to save a police officer from assault, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, February 25, 2006. A police officer, 24, tackled the man he had been pursuing on a city street and took him to the pavement. The men struggled there, the officer calling for backup as the man attempted to get the officer’s duty weapon. Saks, 21, college student, who lived nearby, saw the latter part of the chase. Standing on the street near where the men were struggling, he asked the officer if he need help. Saks then approached the men and lay on the assailant’s legs to help hold him down. The assailant grasped the officer’s weapon and fired it, the bullet passing through the gun’s holster and striking Saks in the left hand. Saks got to his feet and backed away as two other officers approached. The assailant was subdued and arrested. The first officer recovered from lacerations and scrapes, and Saks required hospital treatment for his wound, which was sutured.
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