Sandra Wilde was still shaken up describing her frightening ordeal Saturday driving on Interstate 5 in Everett, Washington. "I ...
Sandra Wilde was still shaken up describing her frightening ordeal Saturday driving on Interstate 5 in Everett, Washington.
"I was so scared I didn't know what to," she told KOMO-TV, noting it was the most terrifying moment of her life.
What happened?
Washington State Patrol told the station Jeremy Yates, 41, stood on the shoulder of southbound I-5 by Pacific Avenue and damaged as many as 10 cars around noon after throwing chunks of concrete, rocks, wooden blocks, metal pipes, and even a trailer hitch at drivers, the station said.
A handful of vehicles pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway, KOMO said in a separate story, adding that a female driver stopped, and troopers said Yates kept throwing rocks at her vehicle.
Wilde was one of the victims, saying Yates threw a trailer hitch at the windshield of her Subaru Crosstrek, KOMO noted.
"I watched him throw it with all his might," she told the station. "It hit my windshield and the glass went all over me."
Wilde added that her assailant also hit her back window with the hitch several times before it shattered, KOMO reported.
Wilde called 911 to report the incident, the station said, noting Yates was bloody and yelling and tried to get into her car.
Gun owner to the rescue
But she told KOMO she saw another driver stop and confront Yates — and the station tracked down Jacob Marshall, who said he has a concealed weapons permit.
"I drew my pistol," Marshall told KOMO. "I aimed it at his head because as I got closer to him, he still had this chunk of metal in his hand. I said several expletives at him, told him to get on the ground, and he was under citizen's arrest. As I ran up to him, he dropped. He dropped the metal. I went to the ground with him. As I went down with him, he jumped up and wanted to fight my father who was behind me."
Marshall added to the station that he then gave his gun to his dad — who was with his son to help out — and then "went toe-to-toe with the guy."
He noted to KOMO that he tried to get Yates off the freeway and "physically walked him back as he was trying to walk to I-5. My biggest thing, I didn't want him to jump in front of a vehicle."
Troopers soon arrived and arrested Yates without further incident, the station said.
"I was glad I could stop him before he destroyed another vehicle or killed or seriously injured somebody," Marshall added to KOMO. "If you throw a concrete chunk through a vehicle that's doing 60 miles per hour, it's going to kill someone."
Wilde told the station Marshall saved her and other drivers from further harm, the station said.
"If Jacob had not stopped him, he would have kept going," she told KOMO of the attack.
Local police told the station they have a history of run-ins with Yates, the station said, mostly for drug and mental health issues.
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