Good Samaritan dragged by car while trying to help woman from domestic incident
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — A Good Samaritan is recovering after being dragged by a car while trying to save a woman from a domestic incident.
It happened Wednesday morning on Olive Branch Road in Greenwood.
The Good Samaritan told 24-Hour News 8 he knew he had to help when he realized what was happening between the woman and her husband.
Hellinga said he was getting ready to leave for work Wednesday morning when he noticed two cars across the street.
“I was going to go ask them if they needed something and then I needed to get to work,” he said. “I wasn’t going to worry about it and then all of a sudden he’s yelling and screaming and beating up on the door and the window, trying to pry the window down.”
Hellinga thought it was a road rage incident when he saw a woman in the driver seat.
“I ran up behind him and grabbed him tried to pull him back away from the car,” he said,
Hellinga said he quickly learned the two were husband and wife.
“I thought he was trying to hurt her and he started screaming, it was his wife, that’s my wife, that’s my wife,” he said. “Okay, does that mean I’m supposed to let you go and keep going? No, I tried to stop him.”
Hellinga said the husband appeared to be impaired.
“Something was wrong with him and I didn’t want him getting anywhere near her, she started screaming there was a kid in the car,” he said.
Hellinga said another Good Samaritan showed up and they tried to stop the husband from leaving the scene.
“He got in his car and rammed a guy and rammed me,” he said. “I ended up getting hung up on his window to shut the car off.”
And in the process, Hellinga said he was dragged by the car going at least 70 miles per hour.
“Luckily another guy down the road was blocking the road and had him swerved off to the side where I could get into the ditch and I rolled into the ditch,” he said.
Deputies later caught up with Robert Eugene Smith III, 24, and arrested him for battery, leaving the scene of an accident, and reckless driving.
“You see on the news cops talk about how these guys don’t stop and all that there was no stopping him, I got a hold of him pretty good and he didn’t care, it didn’t matter,” he said.
Hellinga said he ended up with bruises and road rash and took a couple days off from work.
As for the victim, she told police her husband was following her around that morning. She tried to call 911, but dropped her phone, and had to pull over.
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