News

Actions

White House Police Face Knife-Wielding Man

Posted at 9:25 PM, Jan 18, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-18 23:42:11-05

Officers with the White House Police Department arrested a man they said was threatening them with a knife.

Brian Henderson was charged with Aggravated Assault, Public Intoxication and Vandalism following an incident on Wilkinson Lane near Robert F. Woodall Elementary School on Tuesday. 

Officer Jerry Manlove responded to the scene after receiving a call that Henderson was reportedly walking in front of cars trying to get run over. 

"There is a man walking down the middle street and stopped me, begging me to run over him," one 911 caller said. 

Henderson repeatedly asked the officer to kill him and refused to listen to orders, according to the police report. The officer stated Henderson walked away and reached for his waistband prompting him to draw out his gun.

"The suspect pulled out a knife threatening the officer telling the officer he was either going to shoot him or come at the officer with a knife," White House Police Chief Pat Brady told NewsChannel 5. 

The police report said Officer Manlove initially told him to calm down and that he had no reason to shoot him. Eventually, Henderson calmed down and dropped the knife.

"As he was walking away, two other officers arrived as backup at that point the subject turned around again and pulled out a second knife and threatened all three officers," Chief Brady added.

After several attempts and tense moments with the officers, police said Henderson finally dropped the second knife and was taken into custody without incident. He was also wearing a bulletproof vest during the incident. 

Henderson was also allegedly making irrational statements about wanting to die and killing other people. 

Chief Brady said his officers spend a tremendous amount of time training throughout the years on mental health issues and ways to de-escalate situations and prevent anyone from getting hurt. 

"This was a perfect example of that training paying off ," Chief Brady said. "You can train with scenarios all day long and hope to never have the event but this is a case where the event actually happened and the training kicked in and actually worked."

As of Wednesday night, Henderson was held at the Robertson County Jail on $32,000 bond.

He was also charged with Unlawful Use of Body Armor.