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4 good Samaritans bandage Ky. deputy battered in foot pursuit
Four friends were driving by the scene when they heard screams coming from the woods
By Suzie Ziegler
GREENUP COUNTY, Ky. — A Kentucky deputy who was injured running after a suspect is now on the mend thanks to the kindness of strangers.
According to WOWK, four friends were driving by the crime scene and saw that something was wrong.
“There was a car that was parked and there were two cruisers that were pulled over, and one of the officers was frantically running around,” said Heidi Stiltner, one of the four good Samaritans.
Stiltner was seeing the aftermath of an attempted arrest. A deputy had stopped to help a broken-down motorist but learned the driver had an outstanding warrant for strangulation, according to WOWK. The suspect, identified as Matthew Watts, took off running.
“We pursued him into the woods and up the embankment,” said Deputy Zachary Clark, who was injured. “At one point it appeared like he might have struck Deputy Whitaker in the face, and um, I don’t recall much after that. I just remember ending up in a creek bed.”
That’s when Stiltner and her friends heard the screams.
“We heard someone screaming for help, like coming from the woods, going ‘God please help, someone, it hurts, please help,’ and I told James, something is wrong,” Stiltner told WOWK.
Her friends found Clark in the creek unable to move his arm, according to the report.
“When they get him up out of the creek, to the embankment, I have my flashlight and you just see blood pouring from the back of his head,” Stiltner said.
The group bandaged him up and waited for the ambulance to arrive. Clark suffered a broken collarbone and broken ribs, the sheriff’s office said.
The other good Samaritans were identified as Stiltner’s fiancé, James, and Patrick Ewing and his wife, Sharma.
“Without them I don’t know how I would’ve gotten out of the creek bed, I probably would have laid there until an ambulance got there,” Clark said.
Watts managed to escape and is now sought on additional felony charges after assaulting and evading officers, according to WOWK.
