Jackson truck driver helps capture wanted man with wrestling move

PENDLETON, Ore. -- Jason Poirrier's years of watching professional wrestling on TV paid off Thursday when he used a move to capture a man wanted for taking his 2-year-old son without permission.

Around 2 p.m. Thursday Poirrier stopped at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton to take a break from driving for Perryville, Mo.-based Ochs Trucking. As he was resting in the parking lot, the Jackson man noticed police officers separating a child from a middle-aged man.

Moments later, the man broke away from police, who were attempting to arrest him. That's when Poirrier said his instincts kicked in high gear.

"When the police tried to break the kid's hand away from him, that's when the man got excited and I knew something was wrong," Poirrier said. "I got the guy in a full nelson arm lock."

Poirrier kept his hold on the man while police placed the suspect in handcuffs. The suspect, Charles W. Remacle, 39, of Lewiston, Idaho, was wanted on a felony warrant, said Umatilla Tribal police chief Ron Harnden.

Remacle allegedly took his son earlier in the week, prompting authorities to issue the warrant and conduct a nationwide search. Harden said law enforcement learned Remacle was traveling on Interstate 84 and followed him as he exited the freeway. Remacle had stopped at the casino for a short restroom break, Harden said.

He will now be extradited back to Idaho.

If faced with the same situation again, Poirrier said, he wouldn't hesitate to act.

"You hear about these type of things happening, but you never think you'll be a person helping out," Poirrier said. "I think that if I hadn't stepped in, one of two things would have happened.

"There would have been a continued struggle until someone else got involved," he said. "Or something much worse could have happened, which would have resulted in the loss of life. I believe that if I hadn't been there, Charles Remacle may have gone for one of the officers guns and that would have been tragic in and of itself."

Poirrier said his experience in stopping shoplifters at a supermarket chain in St. Louis in 1996 helped prepare him for the incident.

"That experience helped hone my skills for catching criminals," Poirrier said. "That, and the fact that I watched a lot of wrestling on television when I was younger."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

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Pertinent addresses:

804 N. Kingshighway St., Perryville, MO

72777 Highway 331, Pendleton, OR