NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake and Officer Peter Kinsey expressed their gratitude to Kent Police Sgt. Taylor Johanson for assisting with an arrest.
According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, Johanson had just arrived in Nashville when he saw Kinsey in a fight and in trouble near Interstate 440 and West End Avenue.
Kinsey was injured Thursday, May 7, after an altercation with a pedestrian seen walking along the interstate. Kinsey stopped and spoke with the pedestrian, later identified as 43-year-old Joseph Rainey. MNPD said Rainey ignored Kinsey’s warnings that he could not walk along the interstate.
Kinsey tried to detain Rainey, but Rainey did not comply with the officer’s commands. An affidavit states Rainey grabbed Kinsey’s gun and, while it was still holstered, fired one shot. No injuries from the gunshot were reported.
“It’s probably the closest near-death experience I can say I’ve had and probably the most traumatic on the street,” Kinsey said.
As Rainey grabbed the gun, Kinsey said he was determined not to let Rainey take it.
Johanson, who had just arrived in Nashville on vacation from the United Kingdom, helped with Rainey’s arrest and stayed with Kinsey until additional patrol units arrived.
“I saw the car parked up and then I could see the fight on the floor,” Johanson said. “I think I had been on the flight for eight hours, so it took me a second to realize what was going on. Then I saw the man on top of the officer, assaulting him quite badly, so I decided to jump in, tackle him and take him on.”
Before his flight back to the United Kingdom on Monday, Drake and Kinsey were able to thank him.
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