Everardo Navarro saw a CHP officer tussling with a man on a freeway overpass and stepped in to help the beleaguered officer.
Navarro was driving on Friday afternoon in Santa Ana when he noticed the CHP officer and a man in a fighting on the ground near Main Street and Santa Clara Avenue.
The CHP is using a video that captured the fight as part of their investigation.
Navarro said that he punched the suspect in the ribs but it did not have an effect. Navarro was afraid that the suspect could have grabbed the officer’s gun and shot at them. So he grabbed the suspect’s hand as well.
The CHP officer had responded to a call about a person who was near the Main Street 5 Freeway ramp. The suspect was yelling at drivers and was apparently trying to remove a freeway sign.
The man was arrested after Navarro and other witnesses jumped into to help the CHP officer, who was not seriously injured.
The man’s identity has not been made public yet by the CHP.
Transients often stand at that freeway entrance as they ask drivers who are at the red light for money.
