San Diego

A police officer with multiple stab wounds helped arrest the man suspected of stabbing him early Saturday, authorities said.

Officer Barry Johnson, 28, was stabbed about 5:20 a.m. by a transient as he was sitting in his patrol car calling for backup in the 8100 block of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, police said. Johnson, who had stopped to report a man wandering in the Kearny Plaza shopping center, was wounded in the left shoulder, left leg and chin.

Johnson stayed in his car and followed the transient, who was walking behind some of the small businesses in the area, a police spokesman said.

Johnson directed arriving officers and assisted in the arrest, police said, and, as the suspect was being handcuffed, told officers that he had been stabbed. Paramedics took him to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition following surgery Saturday morning.

Police identified the suspect as Thomas Lee Helwick, 38, a transient who lives in both San Diego and San Francisco. Police said Helwick, who was being held at County Jail downtown, will be charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

Johnson is a four-year veteran of the police force.