SPRING, Texas -- What Shenandoah Police Sgt. Gary Sharpen calls just another night on the job, a lot of people might consider one hell of a ride.
"I'm not a hero," said Sharpen. "We got the call. Sgt. Jenkins and I heard that there was a wrong way driver."
He was a wrong way driver speeding down I-45 at close to a hundred miles an hour.
"So I responded from my area and went to the freeway," added Sharpen.
The sergeant says he had no time to think that night, only to act. And so he immediately raced to the front of the northbound traffic, placing himself in harm's way to protect the other drivers.
The dash cam video shows Sharpen swerving left to right and bringing traffic to a stop.
"The only thing I could do was protect the people behind be. And I figured I was going to have to take one for the team. I grabbed my seat belt and held it tight and I knew that hopefully the lord was going to watch out for me."
Next on the video, the driver can be seen slamming on his brakes and skidding to a stop. Then he turned around and headed the other way. After several tense minutes, the driver finally pulled over.
And then came the biggest surprise of all. A DPS trooper reached in to the vehicle and removed a small child.
"And then I saw the other kid come out of the back seat. Two small babies. And I was furious at that point."
He was furious at a guy who had put people in harm's way including his own kids. Police charged Jose Zavalija with DWI, evading arrest and reckless endangerment.
"And I felt relief that this ended the way it did. This had the potential of being really bad."
Zavalija was being held in jail on a $125,000 bond.
