1 Arrested In I-17 Skirmish
2 Men Cheat Death In Dangerous Rush-Hour Traffic
POSTED: 4:34 pm MST November 13,
2007
UPDATED: 3:20 pm MST November 14,
2007
PHOENIX -- One man was arrested on an aggravated assault charge after a skirmish ended in dangerous traffic on I-17 on Tuesday, DPS officers said.
Paul Sands, 19, was booked into the Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Detention Center.
The second man was a juvenile and was turned over to Arizona Child Protective Services.
Unedited: Fight Ends On Interstate 17 In Rush-Hour TrafficAn Arizona Department of Transportation traffic camera caught the men exchanging blows on I-17 between the Peoria and Dunlap exits as one vehicle after another narrowly missed hitting the couple. The Black Canyon Highway is one of Phoenix's busiest interstates.
One of the men purposely tried to throw himself in front of the traffic flow in an apparent suicide attempt, according to Department of Public Safety officers. The other man was seen trying to tackle him to the ground in an attempt to save his life.
Some drivers got out of their cars and yelled at them.
Miraculously, neither man was hit by any of the vehicles, officers said.
The men got into a fight at a nearby mall and one of them carrying a knife threatened to commit suicide, according to DPS officers.
He rushed across the traffic late Tuesday afternoon while the other man was trying to subdue him, officers said.
"They're very lucky," said Jacob Pruet of DPS.
"Like you saw on camera, there were a lot of cars on the freeway. It's rush-hour traffic."
Pruet said it's not the first time he's seen fighting on the interstate.
"And unfortunately those times ended in fatalities," Pruet said. "So today everything came out OK."
The men were arrested in a restaurant parking lot a short distance away.
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