May 17, 2006 By Jennifer Harr 3 min read

When Shea Daniel Pembleton saw a state police trooper in need of help, he didn’t just think. He acted. The 34-year-old Greensburg man, a co-manager at the Connellsville Wal-Mart Supercenter, said he tackled a combative customer who was wrestling with trooper James Worry. The trooper was trying to escort the man out of the store at the time.

On Monday, Pembleton was honored with a state police Meritorious Citizenship Award. Only a few of the awards are given out each year, said Capt. Roger N. Wagers, the commanding officer for Troop B. The troop is comprised of the Uniontown, Waynesburg, Belle Vernon, Washington and Pittsburgh barracks.

Waters, who has served on the committee that decides who gets the awards for several years, said he was impressed by what Pembleton did.

“No one … has ever come forth as you have,” Waters said. “The state police are very proud and very grateful for what you did.”

Lt. Charles Depp, who heads the Uniontown barracks, said this is the first time someone from the barracks coverage area received the award.

Pembleton said he was surprised and honored when he found out about the award, but deflected praise for his actions on Oct. 19, 2005.

“I saw a state trooper who needed help, and like anyone, I helped him out,” Pembleton said.

Pembleton said the man had tried to purchase a firearm at the store earlier, but was denied. Around 8:45 p.m., he had returned with his family to have one of them purchase it for him, Pembleton said. While the salesclerk did not realize he had been turned down earlier, Pembleton said that he recognized the man and stopped the purchase.

Pembleton said the man got angry, and Worry came to escort him from the store. Worry said when he took the man’s arm to walk him outside, the man grabbed him underneath his bulletproof vest and the two started to tussle.

“I saw (Worry) going down on the floor with the guy on top of him,” Pembleton said. “I honestly didn’t even think about it. I acted. (Worry) was doing his job to protect us.”

Pembleton said he tackled the man from the side and tried to hold him by the legs while Worry handcuffed him.

Worry said that the man, a 29-year-old Dunbar resident, was about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed about 250 pounds, larger than both him and Pembleton.

Worry, a Fayette County native, said any number of things could have happened were it not for Pembleton’s quick intervention.

“For him to step in and do what he did was huge for me,” Worry said.

Worry said he was initially called to Wal-Mart that evening to identify two shoplifters when security at the store asked him to help with an irate customer who refused to leave.

As he and the man tussled, Worry said that customers walked past, steering their shopping carts past the men.

The nomination, submitted by patrol supervisor Cpl. Joseph D’Andrea, praised Pembleton, “for his quick, decisive actions that assisted trooper Worry apprehend the actor without further incident or injury.”

“Shea made the decision to assist trooper Worry without concern for his own personal safety. His actions are a reflection of his impeccable character,” D’Andrea wrote in his nomination.

The award, signed by state police Commissioner Col. Jeffrey B. Miller, commended Pembleton for his help in diffusing the situation before it got worse.

The man was charged with aggravated and simple assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. He also was cited for harassment. A criminal case is pending in Fayette County court.