Unarmed ‘Heroes’ Learn Key Lesson: Live for Tomorrow
A seedy-looking man in blue jeans, long hair and a beard walked into a San Diego Sheriff’s Academy classroom, pulled out a gun and shot at the instructor, Deputy Cary Dressler. As Dressler slumped to the ground, the gunman fired two more shots.
Before the gunman could get away, several stunned cadets in the first couple of rows jumped out of their seats and tackled him.
“Let him go! Let him go!” Dressler shouted, as he rose to his feet. “It’s only role play!”
Dressler then lambasted the unarmed cadets for their display of “tombstone courage.”
“That was stupid,” Dressler said. “I would have been hiding under a chair. The key to success on this job is going home every night to your girlfriend or wife.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
