Three service members who stopped at an overturned vehicle on Interstate 5 went to help a family after a crash. They ended up protecting two children from their mother, who was armed with a knife, according to an Army account of the rescue.
The crash happened October 5 near DuPont, Washington. Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Hytower, Sgt. Ricardo A. Nunez, and Sgt. Alexis McKay were among the drivers who pulled over. Each had stopped independently.
Hytower was driving to work at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. A practical nursing specialist instructor at Madigan Army Medical Center, he trains other service members in patient care. Nunez serves with the 7th Infantry Division.
McKay, a Washington Army National Guard combat medic, was checking on one of the children when she heard screaming, she recalled in the KOMO News report. The mother was going after her teenage daughter.
Along I-5
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“The most senior of us yells very, very loudly, ‘She’s got a knife,’” McKay said.
Hytower and Nunez intervened. McKay recalled that Hytower held the mother’s arm with help from the 15-year-old, keeping the knife away from the teenager’s stomach. The two soldiers disarmed and pinned the mother while McKay pulled the teenager away.
“I just jumped up, it was just instinct,” Hytower said in the Army account. “That’s when training kicks in.”
McKay also assessed injuries and provided care and comfort to one of the children while emergency personnel responded.
“She was very afraid, but also very, very brave,” McKay said.
The service members held the mother until Washington State Patrol personnel arrived. The response also involved other people keeping the children calm, calling for help, and maintaining safety at the scene.
The Next Steps
The children’s 35-year-old mother faces four counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of vehicular assault, and one count of felony harassment, FOX 13 Seattle reported after examining the charging documents filed October 6.
Two attempted-murder counts concern accusations that she tried to kill the children by stabbing or cutting them. The other two concern accusations that she tried to kill them by deliberately crashing the vehicle.
The vehicular-assault charges concern driving recklessly or under the influence and causing substantial bodily harm. Prosecutors also accused her of making threats to kill.
In its October 7 update, KOMO reported that a judge ordered a mental-health evaluation and that the mother was being held without bail.
Both girls had been released from the hospital by that update. Hospital social workers were caring for them while efforts continued to contact family members in the area and out of state.
All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.