Two retired New York City police officers who detained a woman accused of trying to burn down Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home in Atlanta last week were recognized by their former department over the weekend.
Brothers Kenny and Axel Dodson, who were in town visiting their father, were taking a stroll Thursday evening through the historic preservation district that includes the civil rights leader’s birth home when they saw another visitor pointing to a woman running away. He told them she had just tried to burn down the house on Auburn Avenue.
“We didn’t expect anything like this,” Kenny Dodson said during a Saturday news conference to present them with the Outstanding Citizens Award. “When we first pulled up, we just expected to take a picture of the house. That was it, just a picture of the house.”
The brothers detained U.S. Navy veteran Laneisha Shantrice Henderson, 26, who allegedly doused the home’s front porch with gasoline before trying to light it on fire. She has been charged with second-degree criminal attempt to commit arson and interference with government property and was denied bond during her first appearance hearing Saturday.
The brothers had just taken their photos of the historic home and were already checking out other sites along the street when another man, Zach Kempf, shouted to them to let them know what had happened and asked for them to follow her. Kempf had stopped the woman from reaching the gasoline-soaked porch after he saw her grab a lighter she’d left in the grass.
“When he told us that the girl was trying to burn the house down and then started running away, right away my brother looks at me and he goes, ‘What do you think? Should we chase her?’” Kenny Dodson said.
“I said, ‘Well, let’s get her. (But) I’m not chasing anybody. I’ll get in the car and (go) after her, but I’m not running after anybody,’” he added with a chuckle.
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The brothers said they jumped in their car and followed Henderson down the street until she started into an alley. That’s when Axel Dodson jumped out of the car and followed her.
“As soon as he jumped out of the car to chase, I wanted to keep — no matter how long you’ve been gone ... your policing kicks in, and I wanted to keep my eye on him,” Kenny Dodson said. “So as soon as he jumped out and started chasing her ... I jumped out.”
The two quickly caught up to Henderson and began yelling at her to get on the ground.
“As soon as we got up there and yelled for her to get down, she pretty much knew she was caught,” Axel Dodson said. “She didn’t really put up much resistance and got on the ground. We didn’t have any handcuffs, so I basically just held her arms behind her back.”
The brothers then took the woman back to the scene and waited for Atlanta police to arrive.
“Their quick action saved a jewel of our city — something very important to Atlanta,” police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at the scene.
“When the police commissioner and I first heard about what occurred in Atlanta, we couldn’t have been more proud that it was two NYPD retired officers,” first deputy police Commissioner Tania Kinsella said Saturday. “We say, ‘When you see something, say something,’ but our officers — because once a cop, always a cop — not only did they see something, they did something. And for that, we commend you.”
Kenny Dodson said that just the day before, their father asked them if they missed policing.
“I said, ‘Yeah, you know, I kind of missed that adrenaline rush from time to time, I do. I miss coming out and doing the job and helping people, I miss that,’” he said. “It’s funny that the very next day we’re involved in something like that. But it wasn’t just the adrenaline rush. It was doing it with my brother that I just, I love ... It was the joy I had from doing some policing with my little brother.”
