The accolades for how he handled a situation with David Bundy on July 27 have come from many parts of the country. “An amazing amount of people have heard about it.”
The Bundy residence is not unfamiliar territory for law enforcement or other first responders. “I had been there before in '06-'07 when he was off his medication. There have been other calls but they have been without weapons involved.”
When the call came in he recalled the location and played scenarios out in his mind on how he would react to the situation.
One of the things his body camera video didn't show was him planting his foot at the bottom of the door.
It took Bundy a while to come out of the house, Hardy said, and when Halifax Central radioed he was getting ready to come outside, Hardy got an uneasy feeling and planted his foot, “Just to keep from him from rushing out the door.”
When Bundy came outside, Hardy could tell something was wrong. “His whole body language told me something,” he said, explaining Bundy kept his arm where the knife was located in the waistband of shorts rigid and talked only using his free arm. “I knew it was something by the way he was acting. I needed to get him distracted.”
After Hardy asked him what was in his waistband and Bundy replied nothing Bundy turned around and began to reach for the knife. While Bundy's hand was on the knife, Hardy grabbed his hands so he couldn't pull it out. “He wanted to hurt himself.”
Because the grip he had on Bundy prevented him from reaching his radio, Hardy can be heard on the video calling for a neighbor to call 911 for backup. “I had to take that knife away from him. I'm glad I had time to think about what was going to happen.”
Another help for Hardy was when Bundy's mother came to the door a second time, which caused the man to be distracted just enough the officer could take him down without him being ready for it. “I wanted to go home. I hoped in some way I could communicate with him.”
One of the things he did was tell Bundy he had a son. “I never told anyone I had a kid and want to go home. I wanted to get him to see I wasn't there to hurt him.”
Hardy doesn't have a clear idea what Bundy's diagnosis is and in an interview last week Bundy would only say there is no clear-cut diagnosis, only on that day he said he smoked bad marijuana and started hearing voices. “I didn't ask,” Hardy said. “I didn't charge him. I took him to the hospital and he was committed.”
Hardy said Bundy faked a seizure on the way to the hospital.
Hardy simply believes he did what he was supposed to do. “I believe it was a good outcome. He was able to get medical attention.”
The officer does believe the body camera video would be an effective training tool for crisis intervention.
While Hardy has not personally been through crisis intervention training, he has been a special response team member and narcotics agent. “I think working the narcotics side in plain clothes and getting on their level helps a whole lot.”
The matter involving Bundy was called in just less than 45 minutes before Hardy was to get off shift. “When I got home I talked to my grandma about it and talked to my girlfriend. I never made it out to be anything. I just felt like I was doing my job.”
Hardy, a Roanoke Rapids native, is entering his tenth year in law enforcement.
When Roanoke Rapids first introduced body cameras he was skeptical.
He became a believer in the system when he worked internal affairs. “It wasn't this event,” he said, referring to the Bundy situation. “It was before that. You're able to see the incident in which the officers were involved. It's a great law enforcement tool. Once you use it, you get accustomed to it.”
