When a Florida State Trooper got a call about a man walking on the left shoulder of eastbound Interstate 4, he had no idea that he was about to be the recipient of an act of violence, followed immediately by several acts of kindness.
When the trooper approached the young man on the morning of March 18 at around 10 a.m., he told the pedestrian he shouldn’t be walking in that dangerous area.
The pedestrian, later identified as 24-year-old Alexander Hernandez Delgado, said that his mom had kicked him out of the house, so he started walking along the highway.
As the trooper tried to get Delgado in his car so he could remove him from the shoulder, Delgado became agitated, resisted and said he wanted to be left alone.
The trooper tried again, and Delgado punched him in the face. The trooper’s dashcam caught the initial scuffle, but then the two disappeared off-screen.
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“I then searched the subject and attempted to place him in the back of my patrol car,” the officer wrote in the resulting report, according to Fox News.
“The subject became argumentative and stated that I am bothering him and that he would like to be left alone. The subject then pulled away and then threw a punch with his left hand that [struck] me in the face.”
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According to the officer, the assailant then ran for the guardrail in the median. Once he caught up to him, he tried to arrest Delgado, but the young man continued to resist and tried to hit the officer again, repeatedly.
Within moments, cars — and even a semi-truck — on both sides of the freeway began pulling toward the center and drivers jumped out to assist the trooper. By that point, the trooper had Delgado on the ground, but the good Samaritans quickly helped pin him so the officer could handcuff him.
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According to KSTU, paramedics arrived to attend to the law enforcement officer, who had a bloody nose, and Delgado, who had a small cut on his face.
The dashcam video of the support the officer received from total strangers has been shared on social media, and the Florida Highway Patrol issued a public thank-you for those who stopped to help.
Thank you to all of the Good Samaritans who stopped yesterday, in both direction of Interstate 4, to assist our Trooper!! @FLHSMV #TampaBayFL https://t.co/Rw2MJymfaI
— FHP Tampa (@FHPTampa) March 19, 2022
“The FHP thanks all the Good Samaritans that stopped on I-4, in both directions, on Friday morning, March 18th in Tampa to help our Trooper,” an FHP spokesman said.
As a result of the interaction, Delgado was taken to Hillsborough County Jail and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.