Officers Michael Sale and Jatique Barnes helped a woman who was stranded at the Hamlet Depot around midnight on May 22 after, she said, being unjustly kicked off a train. They bought her a bus ticket to Florida, snacks and something to drink, and gave her a ride to the bus station at the end of their shift. -

HAMLET — At around 12 a.m. Wednesday morning, Officer Michael Sale with the Hamlet Police Department responded to a call about a disruptive passenger on an Amtrak train passing through town.

The passenger, who chose to be identified as Annie, said in a Facebook post that she was wrongfully removed from the train while traveling from Richmond, Virginia to Tampa, Florida following an altercation with another passenger who repeatedly demanded Annie change seats.

Sale escorted Annie off the train, and Officer Jatique Barnes joined Sale to check on her. Annie, 26, who has been disabled following a car accident over a year ago that made walking long distances difficult, told them she was fine, but they stayed around.

With Annie in tears, she said in her post, the officers found an unlocked door at the train station and led her inside. Officers Sale and Barnes talked among themselves just trying to find out a way to help the young woman who had admitted to having no money on her to pay for another ticket to continue her trip to Florida. The next train, according to Chief Tommy McMasters wouldn’t leave until 11:15 p.m. Wednesday.

“(Barnes) pulled up the Greyhound bus information and there was a bus coming at 9 a.m. to Tampa,” said Sale. Annie said, “He came up to me and said, ‘If I bought the bus ticket would you take it?’”

The ticket cost $132 but Sale bought her the ticket, though he said he refused to tell her how much it was because he didn’t want her to decline his offer. McMasters said that Barnes also gave Annie $60 cash for her trip.

“Barnes asked me if I was hungry and I said ‘no, I’m fine’, but he left and came back with chips, a drink and a wrap,” Annie said. “They stood there with me the whole night. One of them was either outside or inside with me.”

They promised to take her to the station at the end of their shift and gave Annie their cell phone numbers in case she needed anything before they returned to take her to the bus stop. When she asked why, Annie told McMasters, their response was, “We get paid to protect and serve.”

“It’s a daily basis that we help people like this. We see the kids before they go to bed and they ask for the lights or for us to sound the siren,” Barnes said. “We’re not what the media portrays us to be. We don’t just lock people up.”

Sale graduated from Richmond Community College with an associate degree in criminal justice in May 2014 and joined HPD in October 2015. Barnes was sworn in in September 2018 after four years in the Marines.

McMasters felt compelled to share the story with the entire Hamlet Police Department, and on the department’s Facebook page, after speaking with Annie directly.

“I came into work and this was on my door,” McMasters said in an interview. “I called the number and (Annie) was on the phone and she was like ‘I just have to tell you about your officers.’”

“This is unbelievable and I am so proud of both of these officers,” McMasters said in his post. “Please understand that I will always let you know when you make mistakes, but I would be remiss and less than a leader if I did not praise you for going above and beyond the call of duty.”

According to McMasters, Sale had another incident last Saturday night in which a suspect in custody passed out while at the jail. Sale performed CPR on him until the paramedics arrived on the scene. Additionally, the chief said, Sale was involved in yet another incident about a month ago in which funeral home staff found a person deceased and one of the staff members passed out, and it was Sale who stepped up to help carry the body out.

“When I hear this type of stuff, man, it lets me know that we have the right staff. It lets me know that Hamlet has made good investments in the right officers,” McMasters said.

When asked why she decided to reach out to Hamlet’s chief of police. Annie said, “You don’t hear too many good stories about cops these days… No good deed goes unpunished.”

Officers Michael Sale and Jatique Barnes helped a woman who was stranded at the Hamlet Depot around midnight on May 22 after, she said, being unjustly kicked off a train. They bought her a bus ticket to Florida, snacks and something to drink, and gave her a ride to the bus station at the end of their shift. https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_goodcops2-1.jpg Officers Michael Sale and Jatique Barnes helped a woman who was stranded at the Hamlet Depot around midnight on May 22 after, she said, being unjustly kicked off a train. They bought her a bus ticket to Florida, snacks and something to drink, and gave her a ride to the bus station at the end of their shift.

Officers Sale and Barnes buy bus ticket, food

Alex Smith Staff Writer

Reach Alex Smith at 910-817-2675 or [email protected]

Reach Alex Smith at 910-817-2675 or [email protected]