By Suzie Ziegler
KING COUNTY, Wash. — The King County Sheriff’s Office is thanking a group of five young men who helped save a deputy from a violent encounter earlier this month.
According to the agency, Deputy Elliott was off-duty and driving her marked patrol car home after her shift when she was flagged down on July 18. An intoxicated man had just caused a multiple vehicle collision, the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post.
A woman whose car had been hit told Deputy Elliott that the man who had caused the collision was drunk and trying to walk away from the scene. Deputy Elliott called for the man to stop, but he kept trying to stumble away from her. When she caught up with him and told him he was being detained, the man started to resist. He took up a fighting stance and began to struggle with the deputy, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect then wrapped his arms around her neck, put her in a headlock and began squeezing. Deputy Elliott struggled to get out of the hold. That’s when she heard several men’s voices yelling, “get off of her.”
A group of young men jumped on the suspect and were able to pull him off Deputy Elliott. They held the suspect on the ground to allow her to handcuff him. Luckily, Deputy Elliott was not seriously injured.
“We cannot thank these five young men enough for coming to Deputy Elliott’s rescue. They quite possibly saved her life. The photo was taken just a few minutes after the teens helped her,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
The suspect was arrested for felony assault of an officer and DUI, according to the sheriff’s office.