Louisville man in crisis writes thank you letter after police officer refuses to shoot him

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville man went from screaming at a police officer to shoot him to then writing that officer a thank you letter.

At the corner of 41st Street and Cecil Avenue on Aug. 1, Louisville Metro Police Officer Robert Baker responded to a mental health crisis.

"Shoot me bro, shoot," the man said in body cam footage. "Shoot me."

"I was going do the exact opposite, I was not going to do that," Baker said.

A man, who fell to the ground after being shocked with a taser, was in crisis.

The man was inside the store armed with a knife and threatening suicide by cop.

"It's a very hectic situation, but fortunately, his behavior allowed me to have enough distance from him to where I could let him calm down a bit," Baker said.

Baker and two other officers repeatedly told him to stop walking toward them.

"Luckily, he stopped halfway down the aisle," Baker said. "He started walking in the other direction, which was a huge win for us because that's when he dropped the knife."

Baker kicked the knife to the side while his partner shocked the man with a taser.

"I don't want to have to take this man's life," Baker said. "We've all been in crisis before."

Neither officer was forced to shoot him.

"People in crisis are in control of the situation, so I just got to respond to how their behavior is," Baker said.

LMPD OFFICER SAVES LIFE (1).jpeg — At the corner of 41st Street and Cecil Avenue on Aug. 1, Louisville Metro Police Officer Robert Baker responded to a mental health crisis.

But Baker took it a step further and spoke with the man for nearly an hour in the car before taking him to the hospital.

"If I just take people to jail, if I just transport someone to the hospital without talking to them and trying to get to the cause that got us into the situation, I'm not doing my job properly because we need to try to make an impact in everyone's life, no matter what situation we're dealing with," Baker said.

Less than 24 hours later, the man, who was previously telling police to shoot him, wrote Baker a thank you note.

"He made me feel like I was heard and made me feel like a human," the man said. "I now greatly appreciate his decision to not shoot me and to just talk with me."

"The compliment probably made me smile for the first time in a while, because the job can be stressful," Baker said.

Just 20 minutes into his shift, Baker, who joined the department last year, saved someone's life.

“It’s an absolute great example of the type of work that goes on within this city everyday," LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey said. "When I spoke to Officer Baker about it and told him I did a good job. He said, I was just doing my job. Well, he said, I was just doing my job. Well, you’re doing your job a lot better than a lot of us, and I can’t say I would’ve handled that situation better than he did. We are really proud of that.”

"Luckily, I got that hour of time with him," Baker said. "I'm by far not the best officer in this department, and we have people out here doing stuff like this every day, probably better than I could have done it. We got plenty of fantastic officers on the department. I just, I don't want to make it about me."

Baker moved to Louisville a couple of years ago from North Carolina, after visiting family and attending a Waterfront Wednesday event.

"I fell in love with the city after that and decided to live there, and I saw so many problems in the community, I wanted to be a part of the change, instead of sitting by and doing nothing."

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Louisville man in crisis writes thank you letter after police officer refuses to shoot him