Local News in Brief : Orange : CHP Honors 6 Who Aided Women in Freeway Attack

Six men received humanitarian awards Friday from the California Highway Patrol for coming to the rescue of two women involved in a traffic dispute on the Costa Mesa Freeway that resulted in the arrest of her alleged assailant on suspicion of attempted murder.

Craig R. Campbell, 26, a paramedic from Westminster; Brook Manche, 26, a field service technician from Anaheim, and Jim Wilkinson, 34, an emergency medical technician from Fontana, were given the awards at a ceremony held in the CHP’s Santa Ana office.

Also honored were Dennis Edwards of West Covina; Myron Pointer, 31, of Buena Park, and Craig A. Taylor, 30, of Norwalk, who were unable to attend Friday.

Melanie Thomas, 22, was driving with her baby and her sister, Charmian W. Walker, 20, on Jan. 22, when, the CHP said, they were forced off the Costa Mesa Freeway by a car driven by Michael Stewart Kraft, 35, of Anaheim.

CHP officials said Kraft was apparently angered when the women tried to merge onto the freeway and cut him off.

Walker told officers that when her sister stopped the car on a bridge over Santiago Creek, near the Chapman Avenue exit, Kraft pulled in front of them. Walker, who had already jumped out of the car, said Kraft got out, pushed her against the freeway railing and began punching her.

At one point, Walker told the CHP, she thought that Kraft was going to throw her over the railing onto the creek bed 40 feet below.

When her sister tried to help her, Kraft knocked Walker to the ground, she told the CHP, got back in his car and fled.

Edwards and Campbell, who had been driving by, caught Kraft a few minutes later and held him for the CHP. The other four men stayed with Walker and her sister until officers arrived.

Kraft faces an April 25 preliminary hearing in Municipal Court on a charge of attempted murder, according to police in Orange and a spokesman for the County Sheriff’s Department.