California Good Samaritans save officer from highway beating

Annalisa and Joel Jones (L) and Greg Bunting (R) tell Fox 2 how they intervened when they saw a Highway Patrol officer being beaten.

A former linebacker and a motorcycle mechanic are being praised as heroes for coming to the rescue of a California Highway Patrol officer who was being attacked by an aggressive driver.

At 8:30 Saturday morning, Joel Jones was driving down the highway with his wife, Annalisa, when he noticed a driver weaving in and out of traffic. The driver, later identified as Gary Coslovich, smashed into two cars at high speeds, causing them to spin out. As Jones watched, a highway patrol officer pulled over the driver -- who apparently snapped, Fox 2 reported.

“[The suspect] punched her, hit her repeatedly, beat her to the ground and started stomping her,” Jones, a pastor, said. “I thought he was going to take her gun. He was at her waist midsection. I told my wife, I said stay here, and I said, ‘Lord be with me.’”

(Gary Coslovich was arrested for beating an officer on I-80 in California.)

The pastor, who used to be a college football player, knocked the suspect off his feet, five feet away. Jones’ wife said, “I saw her crawling and then I saw her trying to get up and so I said ‘is this really happening?’”

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Motorcycle mechanic Greg Bunting, also happened to drive by at the same time. Bunting said, “it’s hard to see a woman hit by a man. To see that was – uh, there’s no words to describe it except for it was sick.”

The pair held Coslovich down until law enforcement arrived. He faces charges including assault and battery, and a court date was set for Friday.

It was not Coslovich’s first encounter with law enforcement. Coslovich was fired last month from his job as a painter and is accused of ramming his truck into a county building in May, according to Santa Clara County officials.

Bunting, a former youth minister, said, “I think God puts us in places for a reason.”

When asked if they thought of people calling them superheroes, both agreed they were just doing their jobs as civilians. “We’re no superheroes, but when it comes to – it’s time to help out. Let’s do this!”

Jones agreed, “I’m no hero, I’m a servant. I’m no hero no more than anybody else.”

The officer was being treated for moderate injuries.

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Solano County CHP will be awarding Jones and Bunting for their bravery, according to Fox 2.

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