Police officer hugs terrified driver during arrest to de-escalate situation

A police officer from the Hodgenville Police Department, was caught on camera hugging a terrified driver.

41-year-old Latrece Curry led the police on a pursuit across 2 counties.

She reportedly flew a domestic dispute at home with her husband and chose to leave before the cops arrived.

The police managed to track her down, at which point she sped off with multiple cars on her tail.

When she came to a halt in the park, something happened.

In a bodycam footage that was shared by the police on Facebook, you can see and hear the police pointing their guns at Curry.

She was also asked to show them her hands and get out of the vehicle.

But things changed when Chief James Richardson got close.

Instead of doing something horrifying, the man decided to de-escalate the incident.

During an interview with the New York Post, he said:

I got to the driver’s side door and told her to unlock the door, she had her hands up, she was shaking like a leaf. I mean the poor girl, when I opened the door it was like a look of sheer terror. She was scared to death.

After putting his gun back in his holster, the man tried to assure her that everything was okay.

He added:

Of course we had guns, guns pointed at her, so I just tried to calm her down. She was shaking so bad she couldn’t get her seatbelt off, so I helped her get her seatbelt off. I didn’t perceive her as a threat, she didn’t have any weapons. I took control of her hands, she started crying. She reached out and hugged me and I just kind of hugged her back. Her statement to me was she was just in the zone, she didn’t know what she was doing and she was extremely sorry. She had no criminal record to speak of, had never been in trouble that I know of. She just made a really bad choice… with everything going on in the world today, everybody makes mistakes.

Curry was arrested by the police.

She was charged with fleeing police, endangerment, and traffic violations.

Good thing nothing bad happened in the incident.

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