(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -A terrifying case of road rage could have gotten much worse if it hadn't been for a total stranger. The man went from a spectator to a participant in a matter of seconds.
Once James Williams saw there were kids involved in this potentially dangerous situation, the former Marine Corps. medic said he had to do whatever he could do to help. Even putting himself in harm's way.
"I've never come up against anyone who had that much rage and that much aggression that he was going to kill somebody," Williams said.
Last Friday, Williams was heading home when he came across what he thought was an accident, but turned out to be something much different. He says he stopped when he saw the driver and passenger in a red pickup truck get out and violently confront the driver of an SUV parked behind them. Seeing two children in the back of the SUV, Williams tried to deescalate things things, yelling at the man to stop.
That's when one of them started walking toward him.
Williams armed himself with a baton he keeps in his car, which didn't deter the man who attacked him, saying he was going to "kill him and eat him."
Williams struck the man several times but said the baton had no effect on the man he described as being "possessed" or under the influence of something. Eventually the man turned his attention back to the SUV, punching out the back window and taking off with the other man in the pickup. But not before williams was able to snap photos of the driver, the truck and the license plate while calling 911.
A father himself, Williams says he wants to see these men found and arrested before they attack someone else.
"You got to be careful. A simple flipping of somebody off could trigger a deadly experience like this, to where somebody could have died or somebody could have really severely been injured," Williams said.
But he says he wouldn't do anything differently.
"I'd do it all again right now. If I was faced with them right now, there's nothing I would have done differently."
Afterward Williams says the other drive thanked him for intervening and keeping things from getting even worse.
If you have any information about this incident, call Crime Check at 509-456-2233.