An officer with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) was savagely attacked on the side of a busy road, but three brave bystanders rushed into action to save his life.
Everado Navarro was on his way to an event in Orange County last Friday when he witnessed a scene he couldn’t ignore.
Two men were locked in a vicious brawl on the side of the road. One of them was a cop, and he was losing to an aggressor who had him in a headlock.
In an abnormally heroic rescue that was caught on camera, Navarro pulled over and raced to the aid of the CHP officer.
Navarro told local outlet KCAL that he thought about his children in the moment, and how the officer likely had a family of his own that would like him to make it home from his shift safely.
The violent incident occurred around 5:00 p.m. near a busy freeway entrance in Santa Ana, according to CHP reports.
It began when two motorcycle cops approached a suspect who had been causing a disturbance on the road by yelling at drivers. After issuing a warning, instead of arresting the highway harasser, one of the officers departed.
The unnamed suspect took advantage of the remaining vulnerable police officer by taking a hold of his bike attacking him.
“Like he actually grabbed his bike,” Navarro recalled in shock. He saw the man throw the officer off of his bike and put him in a chokehold that he couldn’t break on his own, so he pulled over to help.
“When I actually get there, for a split second I didn’t know what to do. I just punched the guy in the ribs,” Navarro said.
He noted that the attacker didn’t seem to feel the hit and kept his hold tight. The brave motorist instead shifted his focus to stopping the suspect from grabbing the officer’s sidearm.
He was eventually joined by two more bystanders, and the group was able to wrestle the suspect off of the cop he’d rendered helpless.
Due to their intervention, the patrolman was able to walk away from the ordeal with only a minor injury to his thumb.
His attacker wasn’t so lucky, and had to be hospitalized with facial injuries for his insanely stupid stunt.
Navarro said that the officer was extremely thankful for the assist and expressed his gratitude in a heartfelt manner. “He thanked me five or six times,” he remarked.
California Highway Patrol spokesman Anselmo Templado was full of praise for Navarro and the other two everyday heroes.
He admitted that things may have taken a turn for the worst if they hadn’t intervened.
“It’s not very often that you see something like that. Usually, it’s just people recording and standing by,” he told ABC7 Eyewitness News.
After the fight was broken up, the assailant was arrested and booked into Orange County prison for assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
