Robert LeDoux does not want to be considered a hero for his actions Sunday afternoon on a country road in southwest Louisiana.
He was out for a drive in his Jeep when people passing by in another vehicle flagged him down. “Don’t go down there. That guy’s got a gun,” they told him. Up ahead was a pickup truck that had run into a ditch on the side of the road and a police cruiser with lights flashing.
LeDoux did not take heed and went forward to see what was happening. What he witnessed was Kevin Daigle, 54, who he described as having “pure evil in his eyes,” rifling through the pockets of 13-year veteran police officer Steven Vincent, 43. Daigle had just shot him in the head with a sawed-off shotgun and was trying to unclasp the officer’s gun.
KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana
“He told me, ‘Everything’s all right. Mind your own business. You need to go,’” LeDoux recalled in an interview with the AP.
LeDoux knew what he needed to do. He said that he got out of his Jeep and “I took off running. I tackled him. We hit the ground. I was on top of him and I called 911.” He, with the help of others who joined him, used the officer’s handcuffs to detain Diagle until the police arrived.
Daigle has been charged in the murder of Vincent, who died the following day from his injuries, leaving behind a wife and their 9 year-old son. The police officer was an Army veteran who served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, CNN reports. (Read more from “Man Guns Down State Trooper, Unlikely Hero Steps up and Delivers Justice” HERE)
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Man Guns Down State Trooper, Unlikely Hero Steps up and Delivers Justice [+video]