A gun-toting good Samaritan sprang into action Thursday to save an Arizona state trooper during a roadside attack.

Edward Anderson, a 27-year veteran trooper, arrived at the scene of a car accident on Interstate 10 near Tonopah this week and was shot twice. His attacker then began beating him until shortly after the good Samaritan arrived.

“I don’t know that my trooper would be alive today without his assistance,” said Col. Frank Milstead, director of the Public Safety Department, a local ABC News affiliate reported.

Authorities said the citizen, who remains unidentified, asked the trooper if he could help. He ended the attack with his personal firearm once given permission by the officer.

Trooper Anderson, who was shot once in the shoulder and chest, is recovering in a local hospital. A woman who was thrown from the vehicle during the crash died of her injuries.

Capt. Damon Cecil, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, added that it was “fairly rare” for citizens to use deadly force to help an officer, but that those present were “calm” and “determined” during the chaos.

One of those people was a former medic named Brian Schober, who helped stabilize the officer and used his patrol car’s radio to call for help.

“If he would have tried to stand up, he would have been shot again,” Mr. Schober told the station.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued a statement Thursday morning wishing the officer a quick recovery for this brave officer and thanking “everyone who, through their actions in real time, showed our officers exactly what Arizona means when we say: ‘You have our backs, and we will always have yours.’”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.