DECATUR, Ark. — New Decatur Police body camera footage shared with 5NEWS shows the moments first responders acted following the May 26 tornadoes that swept through Benton County.
“Adrenaline was definitely helping in that moment,” said Decatur Police Officer Luke Rouhselang. “I felt like, 'Okay, there's more people to help, and I don't have a choice to stop. Stopping is not an option.'"
Over an hour of footage shows Rouhselang running to various houses in the community, making sure residents were safe. At one point Rouhselang took off the only protective gear he had on, his police vest, to cover broken glass and help a family out of a window.
“it's my job to make sure that I get them from an unsafe situation to a situation,” said Rouhselang. “We moved the children first, and then we started working the adults out, and moved them into a situation where they could be assisted by the fire and EMS."
Rouhselang, who was on call that night, said he was moving throughout Decatur for around four hours non-stop.
Decatur Police Chief Stephen Grizzle said various other officers in his department who were not working at the time immediately began heading towards Decatur after hearing about the storm damage.
“I'm proud of my guys,” Grizzle said. “I had three or four guys that came in saying ‘Hey, we're on our way, Chief. We know we just got hit.’”
Grizzle, who has been police chief since 2020, has been in law enforcement since 1996. He said constant training through various scenarios definitely helped in responding to an unforeseen situation.
“Does that prepare us for what we're seeing? Probably not completely, but it helps,” Grizzle said. “ I can tell you what helps law enforcement in general is that we're able to handle high-stress stuff while keeping a somewhat calm composure about it..”
As the sun began to rise on May 26, Rouhselang said the impact of the tornado was much bigger than he had initially expected.
“The power of the storm that night was unimaginable,” Rouhselang said.
“I didn't even realize how many people Officer Rouhselang had got out until after,” Grizzle said. “I got a Superman on my team here.”
With recovery efforts still underway in much of Benton County, Rouhselang added that the community has banded together through tragedy.
“We love each other and we're here for each other,” Rouhselang said. “It's been amazing to see. It's truly a miracle to have witnessed the love that has come from our community to the people who have been affected by this one.
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