No witnesses, leads in brutal road rage beating

An unbelievable case of road rage has left a man in intensive care. His family says if it wasn’t for the kindness of a disabled Army vet he might not be alive at all today. And despite pleas for help, officials say they haven’t gotten a single tip to help catch the man.

It was around 4 p.m. on Monday in a very quiet residential neighborhood in Spanaway when 46-yea- old Scott Bradford pulled out of a convenience store parking lot and admittedly cut off another driver.

It only took a moment for that small lapse in driving etiquette to turn into a nightmare. That other driver started tailgaiting Bradford, so Bradford tapped his brakes and eventually pulled over.

As soon as he was within reach, the man sucker-punched Bradford square in the jaw. The attacker hit him so hard and so many times, Bradford broke nearly every bone in his face. Four days later he is still in intensive care, with a breathing tube, unable to speak.

As the attack was happening on Monday, Mike Howard happened to be driving by. He says he saw the whole thing.

“Grabbed a handful of hair, shoved his head to the ground and starts punching him. Face taking the full blow,” Howard told King 5. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Howard is a double amputee. He lost his legs in a landmine explosion in Vietnam. That didn’t stop him from trying to help the man being so severely beaten. He tried to slash the attacker’s tires with a knife so the guy wouldn’t be able to get away.

But the attacker didn’t seem to have any qualms about beating an injured war hero either. Howard says the guy kicked him in the face and punched him twice before driving away.

“The sad part about it is our witness is a double amputee, and it was quite obvious that he was, and the suspect still beat him anyway,” Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer told KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don Show.

The man who committed the vicious attack is still at large. Troyer says they hope the public can help them find this guy.

“We’re just hoping that somebody has heard about this story and he went out and bragged about it over the last few days, and if he did we want to know who he says,” says Troyer. “He did a lot of damage for no reason.”

As of Friday afternoon, Troyer says not a single tip or lead has come in to the department.

The attacker is described as black and in his 20’s, about 5’8″ with short black hair and a slender build. He was wearing a green and brown fleece coat. He was driving a forest green or gray sedan, possibly a Ford or Chevrolet.

The family is offering a reward for information on this guy. Howard, the good Samaritan, has kicked in $500 of his own money on top of what the family is offering.

In the meantime, Bradford is still in the hospital. Doctors say he will need to have at least three metal plates put in his head and reconstructive surgery.