Police officer attacked outside North Carolina gas station, video shows
A police officer responding to a call at a gas station in Eastern North Carolina was attacked as he walked toward a group of people, a video shows.
One man seen on the cellphone video started hitting the officer, punching him in the head several times before running away. The officer fell to the ground but got back on his feet and chased after the man.
The video was posted to Facebook early Sunday morning.
The officer is Michael Ethan Sale with the Maxton Police Department, a rural town in Robeson County, according to The Robesonian.
Maxton Police Chief J.J. Ruppe told WPDE the officer went to a gas station and convenience store after a report of a 911 hang-up call. Workers at the store told the officer they wanted the group outside to leave, according to the TV station.
When Sale went to talk to the group outside, he was attacked, WPDE reports.
The newspaper and TV station both report police made an arrest in the case.
In a post on Facebook that has since been made private, Sale said, “I fought back as much as I could and broke away to chase after the first person who hit me until my vision became blurry and I couldn’t go any further,” The Robesonian reported.
Sale was taken to a local hospital and airlifted to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, according to WPDE.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 2:53 PM.
