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Sandra Yi ReportingThe Salt Lake City police officer who was viciously attacked by a robbery suspect is talking about what happened for the first time. He credits a good Samaritan for saving two lives that day.
Moments after someone robbed a laundromat, the officer stopped to question a man who matched the suspect's description. The two were standing there when the suspect began to fight.
Today, a small cut on his nose and scrapes are the only signs of the scuffle Officer Shaun Wihongi had with the robbery suspect. That suspect, Thomas West, hit the officer in the face. Then the two struggled on the ground.
Wihongi says his nose and mouth were bleeding so much, he thought he'd been stabbed. As the two struggled, the suspect tried to grab Wihongi's gun.
Shaun Wihongi: "He said, 'I've got your gun. I've got your gun.'"
Shaun Wihongi: "I looked into his eyes for a little bit and it seemed like he was resigned to the fact that he either wanted me to kill him or he wanted to kill me."
That's when Wihongi heard someone ask if he needed help. It was the voice of Kevin Winston, who had stopped to get coffee at a drive-thru coffee shop nearby.
Winston saw what was happening and stepped in, and grabbed the suspect's hands. Wihongi says he was ready to use deadly force and if the good Samaritan hadn't stepped in, either he or the suspect may have been killed.
Thomas West was arrested for aggravated assault on a police officer, and aggravated robbery. Police say he had a knife and money from the business.
