Huntington Beach : Off-Duty Officer Stabbed After Stopping to Help

An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer was beaten and stabbed when he stopped to offer assistance to two men whose car had apparently stalled on Beach Boulevard early Thursday, police said.

Officer Ronald A. Johnson--who was unarmed, out of uniform and in his own car--was driving northbound on Beach Boulevard near the San Diego Freeway at 3:50 a.m., when he pulled over to help two men in a brown Toyota, according to Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Barry Case.

As Johnson, 28, of Huntington Beach, walked over to the Toyota, the two got out of the car and began to beat and stab him, Case said.

Officer Lyle Whitten, spokesman for the Highway Patrol’s Santa Fe Springs office, where Johnson is stationed, said one man began to beat him while the other stabbed at him with what was apparently a small knife. “He didn’t know he was being stabbed till he got back into his own car,” Whitten said.

Johnson fought back and managed to run to his own car, Whitten said. As Johnson was driving away, one man reached into the open car window and stabbed the off-duty officer in the scalp.

Whitten said Johnson drove south on Beach Boulevard until he saw a Huntington Beach police officer who had stopped a motorist. That officer drove Johnson to Humana Hospital-Huntington Beach, where Johnson was treated for his injuries--including nine stab wounds on his arms, back and scalp--and released, Whitten said.

“He says he feels pretty good,” Whitten said.

The two men drove away northbound on Beach Boulevard and the San Diego Freeway, Case said. There are no suspects in the case.

Johnson should be back to work in a few days, Whitten said, but he will be on restricted duty.

“Johnson said he didn’t know why they attacked him except maybe they mistook him for someone else they were looking for,” Whitten said. “At no time did he ever identify himself as an officer.”