Scott Perkins responded as I hope all of us would when he saw a deputy down and fighting for his life.

Not thinking about his own life, a local Marine veteran jumped into action and stopped a man from reaching a Bastrop deputy’s gun as the suspect pummeled the officer during a struggle earlier this month.

“Freeze!” Scott Perkins yelled as he pulled out his concealed handgun, pointing at the suspect.

“I’m alive today because of him,” the deputy, 23-year-old Dylan Dorris said Wednesday, reflecting on the events surrounding a disturbance call outside a Bastrop County gas station Jan. 16. “There are no words to explain it. He’s such an outstanding citizen. He’s here for our country, our community and you really feel the love.”

Perkins’ actions caused the suspect to leave Dorris and flee, before he was detained and taken into custody by another deputy and Dorris shortly after.

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At a time when anti-law enforcement sentiment is seen in many parts of the country, Perkins’ decision to intervene and help Dorris has touched many in the Bastrop sheriff’s department.

“This day and time, a lot of people would just drive by and keep going,” said Sgt. James Davenport, who was the supervising officer of the incident. “To see someone that will stop and help is special.”

The few minutes when Dorris was fighting with the suspect and couldn’t check in with dispatchers felt like an eternity, Bastrop County sheriff’s dispatcher Ruth Amy said.

“It is very emotional, very emotional,” Amy said. “You go into a mode, for a lack of a better term, you go into an emergency mode and you just do what you have to do.”

In those moments, Dorris remembers fearing for his life.

“I remember thinking stay in the fight. Just keep fighting, keep fighting. Do whatever you can do, just stay alive you need to go home,” Dorris said. He was transported to the hospital and treated for minor injuries that night.

It makes me angry that the mainstream media has so poisoned society against law enforcement that officers and deputies think they’re alone, and that they simply don’t think help from citizens is even a possibility.

I just don’t get it.

I’m psychologically wired in such a way that I’m going to run to someone in distress and attempt to do what I can to help them. I’ve done it numerous times, with a pedestrian hit by a car, with vehicular collisions, a motorcycle wipe-out, several fights, and an attempted sexual assault. It’s simply what you do, and I suspect that if I ever saw a firefighter, paramedic, or officer in distress that I’d immediately jump in to help them, the way they always take the risks to help strangers.

It says a lot about the decline of morality and character in our society that Perkins’ actions are viewed as anything other than an automatic response as the “right thing to do,” which Perkins himself seems to get.

But Perkins, who served two tours in Iraq as a Marine, doesn’t see himself as a hero.

“Anytime somebody is in need of help you should assist them. It doesn’t matter whether your life is in danger or not, you should always assist anybody who is in need,” Perkins said.

If we expect to survive as a country and a culture, we have to be willing to put our butts on the line from time to time, selflessly, for others.

If you’re only about “what’s in it for me,” I’d argue you’ve failed as a human being, but that’s just my opinion.

Thank you, Scott Perkins, for stepping up.

You’re one of hopefully hundreds of thousands of Americans who would react exactly the same way.