Authorities say the woman killed and child seriously injured by a pickup truck allegedly driven intentionally on a Phoenix sidewalk are the wife and daughter of a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy sergeant.

Sheriff's officials say a support team is comforting Sgt. Steve Chervenak, who has been with the department since 2007.

The victims are a 47-year-old woman, identified as Amy Chervenak, and an 11-year-old girl.

Phoenix police say 45-year-old Trent Ferree is jailed on suspicion of one count of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder.

They say witnesses reported seeing Ferree back up his truck to strike the woman a second time Wednesday evening.

"She starts to move towards another garage, tries to get to safety and he backs up and goes after her again," said Mike Steinberg, who held the suspect until police arrived.


Witnesses dragged Ferree from his pickup and held him for police.

"Considering other peoples lives, and just having empathy to the slightest degree. It was just gone," said Steinberg. "He was completely void to all of that. It was really crazy to see."

Police say Ferree is accused of intentionally struck the woman and girl while they were walking on a north Phoenix sidewalk.

They say victims didn't know Ferree and he didn't live in the area.

Steinberg, along with another neighbor who is a firefighter, ran to help the woman and her daughter, after the incident.

"He actually reprimanded the guy and told me to get on top of him," said Steinberg. "So I was on top of the guy and I was holding him down while the firefighter went and tended to the mother, who had very severe injuries."

Once the men got Ferree out of the truck, Steinberg said he was acting very strange.

"As soon as we pulled him out, he started to talk nonsense," said Steinberg. "He was just like voices were telling me to do it. I didn't mean to kill her, but it needed to be done."

The Associated Press (AP) contributed to this report.