A Sitka middle school teacher defused a dangerous altercation last Monday afternoon when he broke up a brawl between two adults in the school’s back parking lot, Sitka police said.

Police Lt. Lance Ewers said it was shortly after classes were out for the day when Blatchley Middle School social studies teacher Tom Henshaw looked out his window and saw two men fighting in the parking lot. He asked his daughter to call 911 while he ran outside.

“He runs outside, separates the guys and breaks up the fist fight,” Ewers said.

It turned out that the fight was between a store clerk and a man he’d seen shoplifting a bottle of liquor. One of the men, identified later as 22-year-old William Walters, “starts swinging and the blows are connecting,” Henshaw said.

Henshaw separated the two, but then Walters, who had dropped the bottle, grabbed it again and swung it around and hit the liquor store employee in the face, breaking the bottle.

Henshaw took Walters to the ground using a wrestling move, and held him pinned until the police arrived.

Others from the school assisted the victim, who suffered lacerations and other injuries, until the ambulance arrived.

Walters and the store employee were taken to hospitals, and Walters was later charged with theft and felony assault.

Ewers said he was impressed with Henshaw’s protective instincts, keeping in mind that school kids were still in the area. He said the sixth-grade teacher put himself at risk to protect others.

“Tom did the right thing,” Ewers said. “When you are confronted with people who are out of control, do you run and hide, or protect? Tom’s a protector. He was saying, ‘Not here, not at the school.’ … It’s a great story.”