KSP: Off-duty Trooper breaks up assault on I-64

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Kentucky State Police say a Trooper’s drive home from training was interrupted when he say a woman being assaulted on I-64.

According to police, Trooper Jeffrey McWhorter was near the 63 mile marker of the interstate when he saw a man pulling a woman out of the passenger side of an SUV.  Officers say McWhorter then saw the man get on top of the woman and begin choking her.  When McWhorter approached, police say the man turned on him, holding a knife.  Troopers say that’s when McWhorter pulled his Taser, and gave the man repeated warnings to drop the knife and get on the ground.  Investigators say when the man didn’t respond, McWhorter used his Taser, detained the man, and tended to the woman.

The woman was treated at the scene and released by EMS.  The man, identified as 40-year-old Travis Phillips of Frankfort, was taken to a local hospital to be treated for a self-inflicted knife wound.  He was charged with assault, terroristic threatening, and resisting arrest.