Video: Good Samaritan helps trooper being attacked by man in Brooklyn Center
A state trooper was allegedly assaulted by a man during a traffic stop Sunday night in Brooklyn Center, and video of the incident caught on a traffic camera is going viral because a good Samaritan helped the trooper who was under attack.
According to the State Patrol, the attack on the trooper happened while the trooper was investigating a single-vehicle crash near Highway 252 and 70th Avenue North just after 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
The State Patrol's media release doesn't go into detail of what happened next, only saying that a Taser was deployed at one point and that the 38-year-old Zimmerman man who attacked the trooper was eventually arrested "with the assistance of a good Samaritan."
The video, however, shows the trooper being the subject of multiple punches from the man, who pins the trooper to the ground. Moments later, a small car arrives and the good Samaritan exits the vehicle and helps the trooper regain control of the man.
According to the Star Tribune, the good Samaritan is a 6-foot-4, 300-pound Fridley man named Vincent Williams, who has been a security guard for 14 years. Williams told the newspaper that the Zimmerman man, identified as Matthew William Cleve, attempted to unholster the trooper's gun.
Williams got Cleve into a headlock and the trooper was able to retake control using a Taser.
Cleve has been charged with three felonies: disarming a peace office, fourth-degree assault of a peace officer, and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.