VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — Two men are being called heroes after they chased and captured a man seen beating a woman inside a car on I-205 over the weekend.
“When you’re out in the streets just punching a lady that’s not going to happen and that’s not OK,” William Byrum told 8News sister station KOIN 6 News.
Byrum was on his way to visit friends in Vancouver when traffic screeched to a stop on I-205.
At first, he thought there was an accident. He said he ran over to people gathered on the other side of the highway to find out what was going on.
“They said, ‘that guy is hitting that lady,’” Byrum said. “So I ran over to him, he crossed back over the lane to where the other vehicles were stopped.”
Byrum said he tried speaking with the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Darrel D. Classen.
“I was trying to talk to him, you know, trying to reason with him but he seemed pretty loaded,” Byrum explained.
During the confrontation Byrum said Classen continued to hit the woman. That was the final straw.
“That’s when we were done,” he said. “I grabbed him and we tussled a little bit and we got back towards the side of the bridge.”
Byrum said that’s when a few other men joined in to help.
“We got him right at the corner of the bridge,” Byrum said. “Reached out and grabbed his hands and I lifted him up and body slammed him and got him on his back.”
Byrum and another driver, Joey Thomas, tied Classen up with straps from a briefcase to make sure he stayed put until police arrived.
“It’s like I told the other guys, if that was my wife or if that was my mother and I’m not around, I would certainly hope someone else would step in and take action,” Thomas said.
Classen was later arrested and charged with second and fourth-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
