MAURY COUNTY, Tenn. – Body camera video captured a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy saving two people, who were both sleeping, from a rattlesnake.
The close encounter was recorded Thursday on the body camera of Deputy Adam Sisk with the Maury County Sheriff’s Department in middle Tennessee.
The video was posted on the Maury County Sheriff’s Department Facebook’s page on Friday with the caption, “So many life lessons to be learned in this video!”
Dash cam video initially shows Deputy Sisk pulling up to a dead-end gravel lot, where two people are sprawled out on the ground. A snake can be seen approaching near their heads.
The video then switches to a body camera view when Sisk gets out of the car. He then quickly alerts the pair to the danger slithering nearby. The deputy is heard on video saying, “Don’t move there’s a rattlesnake right next to you.”
Sisk then says, “Go toward me, go toward me.”
The man is seen running in a different direction than the deputy, the woman gets up slowly.
Chief Deputy Ray Jeter with the Maury County Sheriff’s Department told Fox News he thought Sisk “did a great job keeping them calm the best he could.”
Jeter said the deputy’s main priority was to make sure the man and woman were okay. He added that Sisk wanted to get them awake and alert and then tried to keep them calm.
“That’s what we do every day, keep everybody safe and everyone gets to go home to their families,” he said.
Jeter said their agency was called to the area around 9 a.m. Thursday because the Maury County Sheriff’s Department received a complaint of the two people on the gravel road. As a result, Sisk responded.
“He was shocked by what he pulled up on seeing here,” Jeter said when describing Sisk’s reaction. “He was shocked by what he saw and just wanted to keep those individuals safe.”
He said the department’s protocol when it comes to encountering a snake is to “avoid contact.” Jeter said the incident is “not common,” adding that it was the “first time I have ever seen anything like that.”
He said the department decided to post the video on its Facebook page because “after watching it, we felt it was something our community would like to see.” He added that the video showed, “our people doing good and helping folks” and that the close encounter is “not something you see every day.”
Moreover, he added the lessons that can be learned from the video include, “be observant of your surroundings” and “listen to law enforcement when they tell you you’re in danger.”
The video has been widely shared and had many comments.
One person wrote, “Lesson… do not canoodle in field or wooded area, this time of year. Invest in a tent. Lol.”
Jeter said the man and woman, who were not identified, will not face any charges and no criminal activity took place. When asked why the pair was sleeping in the area, Jeter said, “They really didn’t give an answer for that.”
He said Deputy Sisk gave them a ride home.
