- 2 days ago
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00:00The fire's starting.
00:13Get away from me.
00:15Get out of here.
00:16Get out of here.
00:17Get out of here.
00:18Get out of here.
00:19Get out of here.
00:20Either we make a move now or none of us are going to exit this.
00:24Get your ass by your back.
00:26I can't get out.
00:30Get out of here.
00:32That water was rising quick.
00:34He's stuck.
00:35And now we have a serious problem.
00:37Expanded surveill
00:50hausen,
00:52I don't, he does.
01:22He's self-harming.
01:23How is he self-harming?
01:24He has breathing problems.
01:26He's committing suicide.
01:32SWAT team member Deputy Timothy Lepine hears Kendra's 911 call live over his radio.
01:39He is currently sending EMS due to self-harm.
01:45I was controlling the village of Howard's Grove, which is just north where this incident
01:49is kicking off.
01:51I decided to start self-dispatching myself to this call.
01:56Being on the SWAT team, a lot of the significant calls that we've had have surrounded domestic
02:01violence situations.
02:06You're assigned call has been updated.
02:19At the time when I got the information, I wasn't sure if the complainant was still inside the
02:29residence.
02:30You don't know exactly what you're walking into.
02:33I just had that feeling in my stomach that this was not going to go well.
02:40that was available.
02:41Dispatch, what's the residence again?
02:53Dispatch, what's the residence again?
03:00Munset Avenue.
03:23No.
03:29No way.
03:31No.
03:32Go away.
03:34Get the **** away from me.
03:37Got a mail inside with a thing of gasoline.
03:41I should put fire in standby.
03:44The suspect, Todd Hartzheim, is threatening to set the trailer on fire.
03:50Todd had taken the gas and poured it onto the floor,
03:54at which point he was trying to light the piece of paper
03:56so he could put on the gasoline.
03:58Dispatch, are you in contact with a female?
04:04Come on, man.
04:07Dude, seriously.
04:09**** away.
04:11Get the **** away.
04:12Right now.
04:13Get.
04:17Fire started.
04:18**** away from me.
04:19Dude.
04:20You know there's no problem.
04:21It's...
04:22It's...
04:23It's...
04:24It's...
04:25Go away.
04:26Dude, put it down.
04:27Go away.
04:28Put it down.
04:29Go away.
04:30Put it down.
04:31Go.
04:32****.
04:33Oh, ****.
04:35I'm not gonna live for that time anyway.
04:37Get your hands before you get back.
04:38Dude, put it down.
04:39No way.
04:40Put it down.
04:41Get it done.
04:42Todd made a comment that it was over.
04:43It was done.
04:44Usually when you hear comments like that, that means that they're trying to end their life
04:49or end somebody else's life as well.
04:50I'll keep doing it.
04:51He started trying to dose me with the gasoline.
04:53And try to set me on fire.
04:54Uh, at this point we crossed in a little bit.
04:55I'll keep doing it.
04:56I'll keep doing it.
04:57I'll keep doing it.
04:58Dude, put it down.
04:59No way.
05:00Put it down.
05:01No way.
05:02Put it down.
05:03And try to set me on fire.
05:08Uh, at this point we crossed in a little bit of what's known as deadly force.
05:15Dude, put it down.
05:17No way.
05:18Put it down.
05:19No way.
05:20Get it down.
05:21No way.
05:22I made it.
05:23I made it.
05:24I made it.
05:25I made it.
05:26Dude, put it down!
05:27No way!
05:28Put it down!
05:29And not knowing exactly where the female or the complainant was, I kind of had that
05:36feeling in the pit of my stomach that this was going to get worse.
05:40At which point, I fired the taser.
05:56Is my other deputy inside?
05:58Yeah, I think so.
06:01Wait, where is he?
06:07I absolutely did not know where Deputy Lupine was, where Todd was, or where the victim was.
06:14I had come in contact with a female outside, but I was uncertain on who that female exactly
06:19was at the point in time.
06:2166, where you at?
06:25Tim, where you at?
06:26Get your hands behind your back!
06:29I'm not around!
06:32Get your hands behind your back!
06:34I'm not around!
06:36Get your hands behind your back!
06:39Get your hands behind your back!
06:42I'm not around!
06:44Get your .
06:47I'm dying!
06:49Regardless of the situation, I knew that I needed to save this individual.
06:54He obviously wasn't in the right mind, and that was the top priority for me.
06:58What do you need?
06:59What do you need?
07:00What do you need?
07:01I can't believe it!
07:02Give me the other hand!
07:03Give me your hand!
07:04I can't believe it!
07:05I'm like over your hand!
07:07Let go of your hand!
07:08I'm not doing it!
07:10All right, he's handcuffed!
07:12We're losing oxygen.
07:13We're gaining more smoke.
07:15What are our options at this point?
07:17First option was trying to get him up and walk him out, but he, again, was refusing.
07:21I was trying to get handcuffs on.
07:24I figured, at that point, we would be able to at least drag him out of the residence.
07:28Put your ass up!
07:29Put your hands!
07:30Get up!
07:31I can't get up!
07:32I've got our work.
07:33Bring him in here!
07:34Bring him in here!
07:35Close that door!
07:36We gotta get him out!
07:37Not right now!
07:38I will get up!
07:39I can't get up!
07:40I have not seen a scene like this as a police officer.
07:54I was having extreme issues breathing and losing motor functions, and at that point,
07:58I believed I was going to die.
08:00I couldn't even see the door anymore.
08:05It turned into that pivotal moment.
08:08I knew right then and there that things had just gone to worse.
08:13You only have one way out, and I was right through the fire.
08:17I will get up!
08:19We were trying to get him to stand up so we can get him out of there.
08:24Todd continued to say that he didn't want to live and that he basically just did not comply with anything.
08:31And even though I didn't want to leave Todd behind, it was just one of those situations where either we make a move now or none of us are going to exit this.
08:43You okay?
08:44Tim, you good?
08:45Tim, you good?
08:46Tim, you good?
08:47Just breathe.
08:48I've never been in a situation where I was consumed like that by smoke.
08:55There are consequences as a result of leaving somebody there that's not able to fend for themselves.
09:01A couple of the fact I didn't know where the victim was, but in the same respect it's, at what point are you going to get consumed by this?
09:22You good?
09:23Yeah.
09:24You're going to take one.
09:25Dispatch.
09:26We need fire to...
09:27The suspect is still down in the house.
09:28He's going to be in a bedroom.
09:29He's going to get a fire extinguisher.
09:30I've been doing this job for quite a while.
09:35I was the guy that was generally going to hot calls all the time.
09:40And not really thinking about what was going to happen.
09:55You just go and do it.
09:57And then, right after having my first child, it was the, you're sitting there contemplating what's going to happen.
10:07You prepare yourself and do everything you can with training to give yourself the edge to make it home to your family.
10:20There was a lot of stress.
10:23It's important to be able to keep yourself level-headed in a situation like this.
10:27There was still great concern that the homeowner might be somewhere on the property.
10:40I just knew that I had to go back inside the residence.
10:46You got another one?
10:47Okay.
10:48I got it.
10:49Is there anybody in there?
10:50Yes.
10:51There's someone in there.
10:52Deputy Wattenkamp is now also on scene.
10:53Where is he at?
10:54He's in a bedroom over there.
10:55We had to get out.
10:56He was fighting with us, so he didn't want to come out.
11:11Seeing the flames, this scene was most definitely chaotic.
11:16We have deputies on the front of the house.
11:18We have deputies on the back of the house.
11:20We have someone inside the house.
11:22And fire services are still not there.
11:25You know, it's not just a minor fire.
11:28Can we get into that door?
11:30Is that door?
11:31Maybe.
11:32Do you want to try it?
11:33Yeah.
11:34I had never experienced anything like that.
11:36We located another side door.
11:40There was quite a bit of stuff piled up.
11:43And the door opened outward, not inward.
11:46Therefore, it couldn't breach it.
11:49I'll at least just contain this.
11:51That window there?
12:04Not going in.
12:05No.
12:06I don't know as much as possible.
12:08See if I can get that thing open.
12:11Smoke is filling the trailer.
12:13The suspect is still inside.
12:15And the whereabouts of the female victim are still unclear.
12:19The amount of smoke that was pouring out on the north side
12:22was a huge issue for us.
12:25We were not going to be able to make entry
12:27until things simmered down a little bit.
12:29The only viable option at that point was to breach the window.
12:43We got most of the house ventilated,
12:45but still waiting on fire until they get here.
12:51Ventilation's coming in this way, so he's good that way.
12:56So once we breached that window,
12:58the winds basically evacuated all smoke that was in the bedroom
13:01that Todd was at.
13:05Do you want to try this?
13:06Do you want to try to grab him?
13:07All right, man.
13:08We're going to try to grab you quick.
13:11We only had a very short window of time
13:13before that fire may start reigniting again.
13:16So going in, we knew that we had to be as quick as we could,
13:19extricating the suspect out.
13:25All right, let's go.
13:26Come on.
13:27We got to do this quick.
13:28Don't get out.
13:29You got him.
13:30You got him.
13:31Yeah.
13:38You want to just bring him down the stairs this way?
13:40Yeah.
13:461-4-3 dispatch.
13:49Go ahead.
13:51You want to sit up?
13:52We were able to extract that gentleman out of the presence.
13:54You want to sit up?
13:55I can't.
13:56Help me.
13:59I remember looking down and seeing that there were some
14:01woman's garments on the bed.
14:04The whole reason we're here is because of the victim.
14:07That's when Debbie Wenkamp mentioned to me that the victim
14:11was actually at a neighbor's residence.
14:13Hi.
14:16Is the one that called us in with you?
14:18Yeah, she's with me.
14:19Can I talk with her?
14:20Yeah, come on in.
14:22You're all right?
14:23I'm fine.
14:24Okay.
14:25Once I heard that, it was an overwhelming relief.
14:29And that's when I decided that I wanted to get more
14:31information as to why this was occurring.
14:34I was kind of confused because it said that the neighbor
14:36was the one calling us in.
14:37Yeah, I went over there, but I came over here.
14:39Okay.
14:41So there's nobody else in the house, right?
14:42Just him?
14:43Just him.
14:44What did he say to you that kicked this all off?
14:46It all started because I gave him eviction and restraining order.
14:56Okay.
14:57And he said, he said it wasn't going to end the way I thought it was going to end.
15:05Okay.
15:06She was very visibly shaken as to what had just occurred prior to our arrival.
15:12And even though you're trying to comfort them because of the events that are occurring,
15:17I still have a hard time trying to find the words to speak to them.
15:21Todd had a number of things against him.
15:25He had been previously arrested over the weekend for domestic violence in the neighboring county.
15:30So she had gone to the clerk house to apply for a temporary restraining order.
15:35It had expired at 3.30 that day.
15:38And Todd had showed up at her residence at approximately 4 p.m.
15:44It's not very common that you come to a call where somebody deliberately sets their home
15:49or somebody else's home on fire.
15:52It tells me that he's willing to go to extreme ends.
15:56I fell for her at that point because not only is she having to deal with whatever occurred prior to this,
16:02but now there's going to be repercussions as a result of the damages to her residence.
16:09Yeah, he's breathing.
16:10Yeah, he's breathing.
16:12He's going around.
16:17Todd!
16:18You can wake up for me.
16:20Once we got Todd off the ground and onto a cot,
16:23we were able to get him into the ambulance with little resistance.
16:29He was in a good spot at that point and on his way to the hospital.
16:33I think me and him are going to get checked out regardless, just for how much we inhaled.
16:41Oh, okay. It's sun. Your lip was bloody.
16:42Yeah.
16:43You're covered in sun.
16:44I've got shit on my nose, yeah.
16:45Yeah.
16:47That's when we made a determination of we should probably go get checked out as well.
16:52So, uh, Depuis and I left the scene and went right to the hospital to get checked out.
16:58I don't.
17:01After he's released from the hospital, Todd Hartzheim pleads no contest to felony arson and battery.
17:08He's sentenced to eight years in prison and ten years of extended supervision.
17:18The concern that I had for the other deputies on scene, hearing them say that they didn't think they were going to come out of that house alive,
17:26was a feeling that I'd never want to feel again.
17:28When you look back, you try to get into somebody's head and try to understand why it goes down a certain way.
17:37And you can't try to make sense of it.
17:40It was just a massive relief once it was all settled that nobody was significantly hurt.
17:45And the bad guy was behind bars.
17:58Unsurvivable, that is the exact word officials are using.
18:02Hurricane Helene has now grown to an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane.
18:08You expect 60 million people across 12 U.S. states to feel the effects of Helene.
18:12Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas, all right now preparing for flash floods.
18:22Lieutenant Colonel Shelly Hammons and her team are called to an emergency situation in an area of flooded farmlands.
18:29I was getting multiple phone calls about water rising, some alarms were sounding.
18:36And I thought, wow, it's going to get bad.
18:40I was hearing all this radio traffic. I was like, man, this ain't a normal flood.
18:45I looked over and I saw a two-story farmhouse going down the river.
18:50Man, that's a two-story house. This is something that I've never saw before.
18:55They told me that there were at least three people and a couple of pets that needed to be rescued.
19:03They needed immediate help.
19:05You have this yellow house right here.
19:06Make sure that thing starts, because we're streaming.
19:11Officers are in a race against time to rescue a man stuck in the attic of his home.
19:15That morning, I was at work and my husband started sending me pictures and videos of the water coming up towards the house.
19:25Brian told me that he's going to take the dogs and go up to the attic to the highest level of the house to try to escape it.
19:35He said, we're about to lose everything.
19:38The last thing he sent me was, I love you, Darlene.
19:41I don't even know how to describe how I felt.
19:44It was almost like he was saying goodbye.
19:49My biggest concern is getting anything stuck in the boat crawl.
19:53The last thing he sent me was, I love you, Darlene.
19:58I don't even know how to describe how I felt.
20:02It was almost like he was saying goodbye.
20:05Oh, there's power lines in the water.
20:08Everybody told me that all the power's dead.
20:11I don't want to catch it in the crawl.
20:13My biggest concern is getting anything stuck in the boat crawl.
20:18I've got to look for trash.
20:19Power lines, whatever it is, I can't run over it
20:22and get it tangled in the prop or we're going to die.
20:26As we're headed to try to rescue Brian, I knew he was in the attic
20:31and I wanted him to get downstairs to where we could actually access him,
20:35because every second was vital at that point.
20:39I spoke with him directly and let him know who I was.
20:53I could hear the panic in his voice.
20:56Brian's phone was dying.
20:58He did not have much battery left, so I knew we were playing with borrowed time.
21:02Brian was in full panic mode at this point, and I was just trying to reassure him, try to keep him calm.
21:20Hold on.
21:25I look over and I see two people on top of a little cinder block garage shed right beside the house.
21:31Where's he at, you know?
21:33Where's he at?
21:35He's in the attic.
21:38I may be able to get to that window right there.
21:41As we pull up, we can hear pounding on a door.
21:49Jeff is on the phone with him, and he's saying, I can't get out.
21:53Is there any way you can make it over?
21:55Put this out of the house for the rent?
21:58We're here.
21:59We're on the roof.
22:01Hey, we need to hurry, because they're getting water through that building.
22:05Look at the concrete.
22:06I'm looking over and seeing these two other individuals on this garage, and I can see the cinder block starting to crack.
22:16That shed's going to go down.
22:18Like, they're most likely to perish right now.
22:21Hey, Shelly.
22:22We're grabbing them.
22:23Water's coming through their building.
22:25Y'all, come on.
22:27If he gets to the window in time, that building's about to go.
22:33I tried to call Brian.
22:35At that point, I couldn't get him.
22:36So, we made the decision to go ahead and rescue the two men.
22:42It was a difficult decision, but time is important.
22:50So, I'm like, let's save them now.
22:54Come.
22:55Where everyone knows...
23:04Why you already?
23:09Our boat's pretty full.
23:14You don't want to make a victim out of yourself.
23:16yourself so in order to not put more weight on our boat we had to make that
23:23decision to take these two onto shore
23:36when the boat started to come back around i seen that it wasn't brian on the boat and
23:42my heart just stopped where's my husband why haven't they got him out yet it felt like time was standing
24:02still knowing my husband was going through through that and that water just kept rising and rising
24:13he can't have a whole lot of time left in there they need to get him soon
24:25brian and i met at a party he was 19. i had just turned 16. he was getting ready to go into the air
24:33force so it was a short-lived time together met up again over 30 years later and we had got married
24:42in may of 2023
24:48standing at the shore waiting i could just barely see a little bit of the house
24:54i knew my husband was in there and i just felt so helpless and i just i just started praying
25:01to god that he would get through this the engine starts screaming it's overheating if the engine
25:18fails it's catastrophic when we originally pulled up to his house we had about a foot a chain link fence
25:25in his backyard and the second time when i pulled up the fence was completely underwater
25:31i could tell that things were starting to get really bad
25:36we can't get a door open when i could hear brian beating on the door i knew that he had made it out
25:43of the attic and down to the lower level jeff jumps in the water and we can see
25:49the door that jeff's going to go to part of it's busted out i'm watching jeff he's trying to open the door
25:55and then all of a sudden all hell breaks loose i got throw back ready pretty good everything that
26:07was in that room comes out on top of jeff and just rolls him back underwater i went underwater just for
26:16a moment i was very very fearful for my life at that point hey crater if you can get across you might
26:25be able to go to that window the water won't come through there
26:39brian was solely focused on the dogs at this point he's trying to get the dogs who go to me
26:47and they don't want to leave him go ahead come here come here
26:57i try to grab it and it flushes by me
27:06in that moment i didn't think twice
27:08the second dog was an odor beagle it flushed it past me
27:27hold the room i could see brian started yelling like hey i'm pinned i'm trapped
27:36hey i need to get to him quick because he's in pain like something heavy is pinning him in that corner
27:41and to me there's no other option like hey this guy's in serious pain and i jumped in the water to go to
27:55the brine
27:57i know i got you i got you i had dumped the dog into the boat and i made my way back over
28:02i could tell he was panicking and i rushed out and i was like grab my hand and i was going to
28:13pull him to me to come through the door but when i pulled him out of the swift water he hard stopped
28:18i'm like that don't make sense
28:34so i reached down and i felt like a two by four
28:37he's stuck and now we have a serious problem
28:58at that point i was concerned that he could drown
29:03i was like let's get this board out of the way
29:08i try to push it up and it's not moving
29:14if i don't move this board brian dies
29:22when i went up under water i was just thinking lord help me lift it
29:29when i was able to get up under it that board come right out of there
29:37we got a hand stand up
29:44it's up you can get another one left
29:48hold on there's a big drop off right
29:50okay so stand up
29:55you got your lap that's what's most important
29:59thank you so much
30:01feel with your feet you can stand on that fan
30:05move to the left side hey we gotta go now the power line's coming down it ain't over yet we've still got to take a boat ride back it's time to go
30:28we're on the road
30:31all right
30:32all right
30:33the power line's down
30:41everyone hold on
30:41everyone hold on
30:50i've got a blind in front of me a plastic
30:52does this have got this bad down here
30:54come on here
30:55i can't get up across that plastic
30:57chilly
31:02hold up i'm about to ferry across to go up
31:05down here
31:07that moment by far was probably the most terrifying moment of my life
31:20your life flashes before your eyes you really start remembering everything
31:25the physical emotional and mental exhaustion at that point when i
31:30stepped up onto that fence and got into that boat
31:32just the relief you know i'm there i'm there with my two dogs
31:41boy now we're all in danger and i remember i'm saying you know there's
31:46stuff hitting the boat they were worried about the prop being damaged
31:53and i was thinking if this motor quits and we lose this prop
31:56we're all going to be swept downstream in this boat it doesn't matter
32:02what's going on hold on that's a good row
32:08luna luna you're good you're good
32:11all right everyone hold on luna come on over here
32:13there was all kinds of debris and able to ferry
32:17the boat to the left and i finally see a gap between the trash that i can take off
32:22to get through all that debris
32:23and just thinking please let this boat hold together to get us all of us to dry land
32:37and i lost my wedding band and i lost my glasses and everything and i said i don't care about all
33:05that you're alive that is all that matters
33:13i felt an overwhelming gratitude and thanks to everybody involved to be given a second chance
33:21of life knowing that other people put their lives in danger to save my life
33:25that that's an overwhelming feeling it's you can't ever thank somebody enough for that you can ever repay that favor
33:36good job guys brian is back on dry land but the water levels are still rising
33:44twra pio matt cameron is standing by to help they're telling me the story and i'm very inspired at this
33:51moment and i'm thinking you know where's the next fire that we've got to put out
33:57at that moment a young man approaches me and says there are some people that are trapped on top of a
34:03barn just up the road here can you help they're like hey there's 15 people trapped down here on a farm
34:11i can tell this is a massive tomato farm and about maybe close to half of my way i can see that
34:18there's a bunch of barns and there are a bunch of people on top of them
34:24i'm like matt get in the boat let's go
34:31i don't know but i don't want to hit it
34:40three max
34:41so we were probably about 200 yards upstream from the barn and i can tell that the water's
34:47almost to the second level of this barn
34:58let's do let's do three right here hey chris chris
35:04i wish i could have took all 15 of them at one but i couldn't
35:18we grabbed the first three and i was like we're gonna we'll come back and we'll get you
35:22out of here we'll get out of here we'll get out of here we'll get out of here we'll get out of here
35:34as we started back across the boat began to experience problems
35:41it's not running at full speed and it starts beeping at me it's overheating
35:52so now we're going to be the ones that need to be rescued we've taken these men from a stable
36:00environment now we've put them in a worse situation so it's kind of some deep regret going on internally
36:11a man of faith i began to pray please help us rescue these people we're trying to do some good here
36:16i didn't think we're gonna make it back i'm not even going fast enough to keep up with the flow of
36:28water and we're going down in my mind
36:46and then miraculously the boat starts back again
36:58and it was such a weight lifted off my shoulder that
37:02we shouldn't have made it back there and we did
37:04so we were able to pull up and reunite those three people with their friends and family
37:18and i was like matt we can't we can't go back again we're gonna die the boat can't handle it
37:40i don't know what's wrong with it but it's getting either sucking stuff up
37:47but it died twice i mean i'm surprised it started back we were both pretty disappointed because there
37:53were still people left on top of the barn i think there's like eight left i only saw eight people
37:59total when we brought three there should be five five five
38:06number of ten
38:12the other folks began to approach us there and trying to tell us there are other people out there
38:17and we're trying to explain to them the boat's not running i can't go back it died twice on me
38:25never felt so small in my life man there's 12 13 more people back on that barn and i want
38:30to save them and i can't we're praying we'll get back if we go again no we pushed our luck right there
38:38sitting there and it felt like an eternity of me just
38:43staring at this barn hoping and praying that nothing bad happens
38:50all of a sudden here comes a tennessee highway patrol helicopter
38:56they fortunately see these people trapped on top of this barn
39:04and they began to land on top of the barns really incredible to watch
39:09a feeling of pure disappointment and helplessness to a feeling of pure elation and i really couldn't
39:15believe what i was seeing for them to come in behind us and rescue every single person involved in that
39:23scenario from the top of that barn was just purely incredible
39:27there was 20 of us on the barn
39:34and everyone has made it off this bar alive
39:38this day i'll never forget and you're looking around in the waters as far as you can see looks like
39:49never in my life would i thought i would see something like that
39:52i watched a man and his wife and his dog
39:56in the inside of a house float right down in front of the barn when it hit the trees down there it was
40:01um i just can't describe it i've never seen anything like it i mean i watched the house disintegrate
40:07she jumped off and got saved but he and the dog you know they didn't make it
40:21or i saw this one helicopter coming from the west and i was like oh man
40:24i think they may be coming for us when they circled twice around the barn it was hip hip
40:33hooray everybody was like okay they're here to save it
40:38i want to take three people at a time um so they made about seven trips
40:44i'll never forget riding that helicopter
40:49and then getting my feet on the ground after going through all that
40:54hurricane helene caused devastation across six u.s states and took the lives of at least 250 people
41:09our agency honored jeff prater justin pinkston matt cameron and myself with a valor award for
41:16risking our lives to save others it's been an emotional journey i don't want to get emotional
41:24we don't like the attention none of us do but we'll wear it on our uniforms with honor because that's
41:33not given out lightly
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