A 56-YEAR-OLD woman from Louisiana, the U.S., came to the rescue of a cop being beaten on the side of a road by leaping on the back of his assailant, authorities said.

    Vickie Williams-Tillman was running errands Sunday when she saw officer Billie Amie, 44, in a heated argument with another man. The woman slowed, rolled down her window and was just about to ask if the policeman needed help.

    That’s when the man jumped at Amie, grabbed his baton, and began beating the officer over the head, said Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie at a Monday press conference.

    Williams-Tillman slammed on her brakes and called 911. She jumped from her car and onto the back of a 28-year-old male suspect, the chief said.

    She also was able to get the man’s hand off the cop’s handgun, Dabadie said. She and Amie grappled with the suspect until back-up officers arrived.

    “I can’t think of … very many people on one hand that would have not just rode by, or maybe made a phone call to 911,” Dabadie said. “But Mrs. Tillman went above and beyond.”

    Beckoned to the microphone, Williams-Tillman was overcome. She gestured for Amie, who was standing behind her, to come forward. He wrapped his arm around the woman and held her close.

    “I’m just glad that he’s here,” said a crying Williams-Tillman. “He was in a struggle. He needed help. I said ‘I can’t leave him.’

    “I looked in his eyes, and he looked back at me,” she said.

    “I’ve always been a tough cookie, my husband always told me.”

    Officer Amie was overcome as well. “This a true hero right here that saved my life,” he said.

    The suspect was identified as Thomas Bennett. He was charged with aggravated battery, disarming a police officer, battery on a police officer, resisting an officer with violence, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was being held at Parish Prison in lieu of US$167,500 bail, according to online records. He has not entered a plea.(SD-Agencies)