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When the man saw a patrol car parked on the exit ramp of a Florida interstate, he witnessed a scene too troubling to ignore: a sheriff deputy being slammed to the ground and beaten by a man in plain clothes.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or A 'Good Samaritan' saw a deputy sheriff being attacked by a Florida man, so he fatally shot the assailant Back to video

The passerby, who the Lee County Sheriff’s Office is now calling a “Good Samaritan,” rushed to the two men, telling the attacker he would shoot him if he refused to stop beating the deputy.

The attacker, later identified as 53-year-old Edward Strother, continued to pin down the deputy and attack him, and the deputy struggled to keep his weapon away from him. When the attacker failed to comply with his warning, the passerby shot him three times, killing him, The News-Press reported.

The deputy, a 12-year-veteran named Dean Bardes, was treated for his injuries and later released from the hospital.

But the attacker’s brother later criticized the sheriff’s positive response to his brother’s death, and questioned the details of the fight.