Quick-thinking bystander helped end fight in Edgecombe hospital ER, deputy says

"You don’t come to the hospital to expect this kind of situation," Deputy Patrick Sharpe said Wednesday.

After hearing about the initial fight on his patrol car radio, Sharpe said he drove to the bingo hall and found that a vehicle had driven into the building. Several people inside were injured.

He and other law enforcement officers went with some of the injured to Vidant Edgecombe Hospital, but some of those involved in the earlier fight were already there.

"I hear a lady come outside screaming, 'They’re fighting inside. They’re fighting inside,'" he said. "When I got inside, I said, 'This isn’t the same situation I’ve been in before.'"

As people scuffled in the emergency room, Sharpe said he noticed a young man who appeared to be hiding something in his coat.

"I could tell from my training and experience, I knew from the way he was carrying himself that [posture] said, 'I got to watch that. That’s wrong,'" he said.

As the deputy grabbed 23-year-old Quantez Dickens to handcuff him, he was hit from behind by a juvenile girl, knocking him and Dickens to the floor.

"I hit her with my pepper spray, and I pepper-sprayed the gentleman that I’m fighting with," Sharpe said. "The gun falls out of his pocket onto the floor."

That moment, with a handgun up for grabs in the middle of a brawl, was one of the most dangerous situations possible for an officer, Sharpe said.

A bystander then made a move that Sharpe said likely saved lives.

"As soon as that firearm fell out, he took it out of play. He kicked it under the seat," he said.

With the help of hospital police, Sharpe was able to get Dickens in handcuffs and end the fight.

"Seconds can change a life. A lot could have happened in that 20 seconds. I could have gotten shot. Another individual could have gotten shot," he said.