Video shows Good Samaritans tackling man who was threatening woman with a bat at laundromat

A harrowing video showed an attack on a woman at a Memphis laundromat that was ended by two Good Samaritans who tackled the alleged offender.

Tennessee police said in an affidavit that Joseph Leake had been given a trespass notice on Wednesday to stay away from Ellie’s Laundromat on South Pauline Street. After signing the notice, he allegedly returned hours later.

‘Back in the day, if they saw you, people intervened — and they even told your parents. There was a thing called pride. It was a thing called morality, and I think that needs to return back to this city.’

Jacalyn Hendricks said she had interacted with Leake as she was washing her clothing earlier in the day.

“He was drying and washing his clothes, and he told me, ‘You don’t need to be on your phone,'” Hendricks said. “I didn’t understand what he meant at first. I asked him why, and he just said something about washing his clothes. I didn’t think much of it, and then he left.”

Police say Leake returned with an orange baseball bat and was yelling at the customers.

When he approached Hendricks in a threatening manner, two men identified as Donald Young and Regenald Harris jumped into action.

The video obtained by WLTX-TV shows Young and Harris tackling Leake and holding him down until police arrived.

“They was basically like my superheroes, because if they wasn’t here, they could have possibly hurt me more than what it was,” Hendricks said.

One of the men said that Leake told him he was not taking his medicine.

“I was glad I was able to hold him down instead of shoot him, because we have enough of that going on in the city, and I think it portrays the city in a negative light,” Harris said to WLTX.

“Once these guys are disarmed, once these guys are off the drugs, they’re back to their normal selves,” he added. “That’s when you can talk to them, and that’s when you can reach them.”

RELATED: Louisiana woman attacked by sex offender at laundromat was able to take away his weapon and stab him to death, police said

Leake was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, criminal trespass, and burglary.

Harris went on to express sadness for Leake.

“A lot of people say, you know, ‘he’s this’ and ‘he’s that’ — but you know what, my heart goes out to him too,” Harris continued. “I don’t want to read about him dead, and I don’t want to read about her dead either. I’m tired of seeing that go on in our city. And like I said, we can talk about it — or we can do something about it.”

He also hoped that more people would step in to make Memphis a better city.

“Back in the day, if they saw you, people intervened — and they even told your parents,” Harris added. “There was a thing called pride. It was a thing called morality, and I think that needs to return back to this city.”

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