Good Samaritan steps in on violent park attack, injured

A good Samaritan was injured after he stepped in to help another man who was being attacked violently at a north Madison park Monday night.

The Madison Police Department said a 33-year-old man was at Warner Park at about 5:15 p.m. when he saw a 20-year-old man who had been beaten in the head and shoulders with a tire iron or large wrench.

The 33-year-old stepped in to help as the attacker was punching the 20-year-old. The concerned citizen, a former mixed martial arts fighter, thought the man being punched was about to lose consciousness, so he grabbed the attacker by the belt and hauled him away, according to the report.

The attacker got into a car and drove at both men, police said. The good Samaritan was able to push the injured man into a van just as the attacker’s speeding car hit the van’s open driver’s-side door. The car struck the already-injured man’s leg and the good Samaritan. Both men were taken to hospitals by ambulances.

The injured man needed multiple stitches to close a head wound, while the good Samaritan suffered numerous minor injuries, police said.

Police said the 20-year-old was meeting a woman at the park, and she arrived in the other man’s car. That led to an argument and escalated into a battery.

At the hospital, the 20-year-old told police when he was down on the ground, bleeding profusely, a complete stranger “saved my life. He helped me.”

Police said the attacker was described as white, in his early 20s, with a thin build. He was between 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet tall with dark hair, a goatee and was wearing a gray shirt.