A stranger saved the life of an Arizona State Trooper on Thursday after the law enforcement officer was shot during a traffic stop near Phoenix, according to reports published Friday evening.
Brian Schober, who drove up on the scene following the incident, said he pulled over to the side of Interstate-10 when he saw three bodies. Schober was flagged down by a motorist who had fatally shot another person who had just shot Trooper Edward Andersson.
“It looks wrong with a civilian flagging down a car when there’s an officer there — something’s wrong,” Schober said, recalling his reaction. “But what can I do? There’s no time to think.”
Schober used the state trooper’s radio to call help to the scene and put his medical background to use, cleaning up the officer’s head wounds. After first responders arrived, they confirmed Andersson had been shot in the chest and shoulder.
The person who attacked the officer had been sitting on top of Andersson, hitting him in the head when the bystander shot the attacker, according to the Arizona State Department of Public Safety.
“The officer would have been dead had the good Sam not arrived and not fired,” Schober said to the Associated Press.
The name of the motorist who shot the attacker has not been released by police.
Arizona has a “defense of third person” law that allows a person to use fatal force against someone else if it is to protect a third person.
