Video: Tampa drivers stop to help FHP trooper attacked by pedestrian on I-4
TAMPA, Fla. - Several drivers could be seen rushing to the aid of a Florida Highway Patrol trooper who was being attacked by a pedestrian on the side of Interstate 4, dramatic dashcam video shows.
The incident happened just before 10 a.m. Friday morning in the eastbound lanes of I-4, just before the exit for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in Tampa.
The FHP trooper responded to a report of a pedestrian walking eastbound on the left shoulder of the highway.
When the trooper located the pedestrian, identified as 24-year-old Alexander Hernandez Delgado, he said he was walking on I-4 because his mother had kicked him out of the house.
But when the trooper attempted to put Delgado in the back of his patrol car, he said the subject became argumentative and said the trooper was bothering him, saying he wanted to be left alone.
The trooper said he told Delgado he was just trying to help him off the highway, and again tried to get him to go into the patrol car.
That's when the video showed Delgado punching the trooper in the face. The two then ran off-camera, where the trooper said Delgado attempted to run toward the center guardrail.
He then tried to arrest Delgado, who resisted threw several more punches, the trooper wrote.
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Several drivers who witnessed the assault pulled over onto the shoulder and ran to help as the trooper managed to tackle Delgado to the ground.
The trooper said Delgado continued to resist, and several of the drivers who stopped helped him place Delgado under arrest.
Paramedics responded to the scene, noting that Delgado sustained a minor cut on his chin while the trooper suffered a bloody nose.
Delgado was transported to the Hillsborough County Jail and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.