Polson officer keeps incident from escalating

Polson Police Officer Hazeez Rafiu was doing his job when he helped to keep a situation from escalating.

On Saturday, July 8, the off duty officer was driving west bound when he saw an incident at the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and the walking path.

Two men, one Native American and the other Caucasian, were at the scene.

Identities of the two men were not available, according to the Polson Police Department.

At first, Rafiu didn’t know what was happening, but he said he “noticed one guy (Caucasian) went back to his truck” to put something in his vehicle.

The second man, the Native American, was traveling by bicycle and was walking toward the truck with it. Rafiu said he noted the Native American man was in a “fighting stance.”

“I’m like, Okay. These guys are about to fight, so let me call the police,” Rafiu said, recalling the incident.

The dispute was over property that was stolen from the victim’s father. The victim approached the suspect about working out a payment plan to pay back what was owed to the victim’s father.

Rafiu said he planned on being “a good witness until the police came” so he called the Polson Police Department, describing the scene to dispatch.

As he was relaying information over the phone, the Native American pulled out a knife just as Rafiu was saying the men were about to fight.

“I immediately put the phone down, put on my badge,” he said.

As he opened his door, Rafiu yelled to the men that he was a police officer, and drew his off-duty weapon on the man with the knife.

After doing a double-take look at Rafiu, the suspect threw the knife down, took off his backpack and just sat on the ground without saying another word.

“I had the other guy also sit on the ground” to keep everyone calm, Rafiu said.

Had he not been there, Rafiu, also known as “Officer Zee,” said he feels that the situation could have escalated to a stabbing, possibly fatal.

“Before I saw the knife, I thought there would probably be fighting, wrestling to the ground until the police came. Once I saw the knife, I immediately thought, A knife can cause serious bodily injury or death.”

Rafiu said that the incident was the first time he was involved in an off-duty situation.

His calm and swift reaction is something that people think happened due to quick thinking.

“A lot of people think this just came to me. This is stuff I’ve trained for, thanks to my corporal (George Simpson) who gives scenarios for additional training when call volumes are lighter,” Rafiu said.

“This for me… It didn’t just click. I made the decision to do something.”

Rafiu, 30, has been with the Polson Police Department since 2011, when he started as a crash investigator.

In 2014, after the encouragement of those in the department and careful consideration, he joined the force as an officer.

The husband and father of three, originally from the Washington, D.C. area, decided in his youth he wanted to be a positive male influence in a community. The decision to become an officer, he said, fit that decision as well as becoming an assistant coach for the Polson High School football team.

Currently, he’s working on a Master’s degree from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, for coaching and education.

Originally interested in a crime lab setting, it wasn’t until after pursuing his criminal justice degree at Minot State University that Rafiu decided he enjoyed coaching.

“The least I can do is be educated on it,” he said.

Upon graduation, he said he will continue his role as an officer.

Although being an officer has a higher risk factor, at the end of the day, he said “it’s about communicating with others.”