Good Samaritan Rewarded With a Bullet in His Back

Eugene Smith got a bullet in the back for his efforts.

The 27-year-old East San Diego man pulled his car to the side of the road to see whether he could help what he thought was a stranded motorist. The man slid into Smith’s car, pulled out a revolver, demanded money and jewelry, then shot him once in the lower right side of his back.

“Here I tried to help the man and he wanted to rob me,” Smith said Saturday from UC San Diego Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.

“He wanted to take everything I had. Including my life.”

The would-be Good Samaritan, who works at a neighborhood recreation center, said he had been busy all day Friday assisting with a children’s carnival at the center. About 8 p.m., after spending about $100 on games and prizes for youngsters at the fair, Smith returned home. His young daughter went home in a separate car with her mother.

“I thank God now that I didn’t have my daughter with me,” he said.

Smith drove to Euclid Avenue and California 94. He turned onto the highway ramp, when he noticed a man walking along the roadside, carrying a large gasoline can. Smith assumed the fellow had run out of gas.

“I said to myself, ‘What the heck? I’ll pull over and see if I can help. His car is maybe a long way away.’ ”

Smith said he stopped his 1981 Cadillac and watched the man approach the passenger side of the car. The man opened the door and stepped in.

“My first thought was that since I was going that way on the highway, maybe I could drop him off,” Smith said.

But then the man shoved a gun into Smith’s face.

“It was a little black pistol, something you can easily hide if you want to,” Smith said. “He said, ‘I want your gold and all your money.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘You heard me.’ ”

Smith thought about the gold rings on his fingers and the jewelry chains around his neck. He thought about the other $100 in his wallet. Confused, he opened his door and began to get out and the gun went off.

“It felt like my whole insides had blown up,” Smith said.

The man jumped out. He ran to the other side, trying to reach Smith. But Smith was running away, and a truck drove by, apparently frightening the assailant. The man hopped into Smith’s car and drove off. Smith ran, holding his back and heading for a gas station three minutes away.

“I kept trying not to faint,” he said. “I was afraid to black out. I was bleeding. I was holding my side. I couldn’t see the blood, but I felt it on my fingers.”

A gas station employee helped Smith into a tow truck and drove him to the Paradise Valley Hospital, and from there Smith was taken by Life Flight helicopter to the university medical center.

On Saturday, police were still searching for the assailant. Police Spokesman Bill Robinson described the man as a mustachioed Latino in his middle 20s, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He was wearing Levi’s and a gray jacket.

Smith’s car also has not been found, police said. But officers did find an empty 5-gallon gas can where Smith was shot.

Robinson said police stress that citizens should be extremely careful when approaching strangers on the roadway, for whatever reason, and especially at night.

“For instance, we never encourage people to pick up hitchhikers, but drivers still do it, and many times they’re robbed of their money or their car,” he said.

“But the best thing they can do once they’ve decided to help someone is park their car in a lighted area. The light might at least discourage the other person from assaulting or shooting them.”

Smith said he won’t stop to help anyone again. He lies in his hospital bed, one of his kidneys partially ruptured, a lung scraped and a .22-caliber bullet lodged inside his chest cavity. Doctors told them they could not remove the bullet.