‘Good Samaritan’ Nearly Beans Fake ‘Attacker’

WAITSBURG, Wash. — Police, volunteer firefighters and ambulance drivers got some unexpected help during an emergency drill.

While acting out a hostage situation, a deputy marshal drew his gun and was engaged in a standoff with a man holding a knife at his girlfriend’s throat.

That’s when retired businessman Bill Thompson rode up on his bike, grabbed a hammer and began to sneak up behind the “suspect.”

He “was going to conk him on the head,” Marshal Michelle Long said. “We were yelling at him to stop. It took us a few times to get through to him this was not real.”