A passerby shot and killed a person who was fighting with a Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputy on Interstate 75 Monday morning.

Deputy First Class Dean Bardes, a 12-year-veteran, was working an accident at mile marker 126 when the suspect came upon him, causing Bardes to pursue him, according to multiple sources.

Bardes and the suspect exited their vehicles at the Corkscrew Road exit and a fight started, sources said.

The passerby, who had a Concealed Weapons License, exited his vehicle and instructed the suspect to stop beating the deputy, sources said.

After noncompliance from the suspect, the passerby shot the suspect three times, sources said. The suspect later died.

Although Bardes was crying for help, he was not shot, sources said. He was treated and released from Lee Memorial Hospital.

It was unclear whether Bardes fired his weapon.

The video account (below) suggests that the deputy was on his back with the suspect on top of him, injured and taking a pretty bad beating when the concealed carrier exited his vehicle to intervene.

After the concealed carrier told the suspect to cease his attack multiple times, the concealed carrier felt that the deputy’s life was at risk, took an angle that got the deputy out of the line of fire as much as possible. He then fired three shots, and made three hits, which proved to be fatal to the suspect, but saved Deputy Bardes life.

Bardes was treated and released from a local hospital. As Kevin Creighton notes over at Misfires & Light Strikes, “Good shooting, Mr. Concealed Carry Person. I hope you never have to pay for beer again in your life.”