A good Samaritan in Florida exercised his Second Amendment rights Monday to save the life of a police officer.
A traffic stop in Estero along I-75 Southbound turned deadly when an officer with Lee County Sheriff’s Office pulled over a speeding vehicle. Deputy Dean Bardes was attacked when he deviated from an unrelated call to stop a vehicle streaking down the highway.
“[The suspect was] going at least 120 mph,” witness Nicole Ambrosimi told a local Fox affiliate late Monday. “There was like a trail of dust behind him because he was going so fast and I felt, like, that kind of wind jolt as he passed by.”
Ambrosimi’s daughter, Alyssa, said the suspect seemed to grapple with the officer for at least three minutes.
“He just came up out of nowhere and attacked a deputy. He got on top of him and started punching him and just being really rough and wrestling with him,” the witness said. “From what I heard from reports, the deputy had instructed the Samaritan to shoot the suspect.”
Lt. Jeff Detkas said during a news conference Monday that an investigation was underway.
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“We don’t have a lot of information, it’s very fresh right now,” the officer said.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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