PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police say two drivers, separately, tried to help a man in distress when they saw him standing on the side of the road near a crashed and burning Toyota sedan—and for their trouble, the man assaulted and chased away both of them, and one of their cars ended up in a ravine.
Police say it started at 11:15 a.m. That’s about the time the first driver spotted a disturbed man standing near the Toyota not far from the Philadelphia Zoo. Apparently, the man had just walked away from the car after crashing it into a tree at Sweetbriar and Lansdowne drives.
Driver No. 1 stopped to help, but the man chased him away—apparently attempting to assault him in the process, with his hands and feet, according to police. That first would-be good Samaritan then drove a short distance away and stopped to watch as Driver No. 2 pulled over, exited his BMW, attempted to help the man—and was also assaulted.
Driver No. 1 jumped back into the fray, using pepper spray on the disturbed man—who then hopped in Driver No. 2’s BMW and drove off, according to police.
And that’s not the end of it.
Moments later, police say, the man drove back to the scene in the stolen BMW, attempting to run over the two men who had just tried to help him. He ended up crashing into a ravine instead.
When the Philadelphia Fire Department arrived to extinguish the burning wreckage, the man attacked the firefighters with tree branches, police say.
Police said they used a Taser to detain the man, and they took him to a nearby hospital for treatment.
No names have been released and police say the incident is under investigation.