Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
EVERETT, Wash. -- A driver said her car was totaled and she's still dealing with the emotional toll of a terrifying attack on nearly a dozen drivers on southbound I-5 in Everett.
"I was so scared I didn’t know what to," Sandra Wilde said, noting it was the most terrifying moment in her life.
Her voice still quivered as she described what happened that Saturday afternoon on Nov. 2.
“I watched him throw it with all his might. It hit my windshield and the glass went all over me,” she said, describing the damage to her orange Subaru Crosstrek.
“He threw the trailer hitch and it hit right here,” Wilde said. “He grabbed it and continued to hit the window five times and then it broke.”
Washington State Patrol says 41-year-old Jeremy Yates of Marysville was standing on the shoulder of southbound I-5 by Pacific Avenue. Investigators say he damaged as many as 10 cars around noon when he hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, wooden blocks, metal pipes, and even a trailer hitch at drivers on the freeway.
Wilde was traumatized and terrified by what happened when she called 911 to report it. She said Yates was bloody and yelling and tried to get into her car when she pulled over after being struck by debris.
But then, Wilde saw another driver stop and confront Yates. We tracked down that Good Samaritan, a Sultan man named Jacob. He told KOMO News that he has a concealed weapons permit.
“I drew my pistol," Jacob said. "I aimed it at his head because as I got closer to him, he still had this chunk of metal in his hand. I said several expletives at him, told him to get on the ground and he was under citizen’s arrest. As I ran up to him, he dropped. He dropped the metal. I went to the ground with him. As I went down with him, he jumped up and wanted to fight my father who was behind me."
He came up to help me out. I gave my father my pistol and I went toe-to-toe with the guy.”
Jacob said he tried to get Yates off the freeway.
“I backed him off I-5 down on to Pacific Avenue," he said. "I physically walked him back as he was trying to walk to I-5. My biggest thing, I didn’t want him to jump in front of a vehicle."
Troopers showed up and arrested Yates without any problems.
“I was glad I could stop them before he destroyed another vehicle or killed or seriously injured somebody. If you throw a concrete chunk through a vehicle that’s doing 60 mph, it’s going to kill someone,” Jacob said.
Wilde is grateful that Jacob was in the right place at the right time. She says Jacob saved her and other drivers from further harm.
“If Jacob had not stopped him, he would have kept going,” she said.
Marysville police say they have a history of run-ins with Yates-- mostly for drug-related and mental health issues.