SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A good samaritan has second thoughts about ever getting involved again.
Anthony Mayhew thought he was doing a good dead in 2009. But in the end, police arrested him and on Thursday he filed a civil lawsuit in federal court.
It all started at a South Salt Lake apartment complex. Mayhew thought he heard gunshots and saw a woman being assaulted.
"The female started pushing the male rolled and pushed her against the glass door shut," Mayhew says. "They're fighting."
He says he ran inside believing the woman was in trouble and when he got to the door a man answers.
"He came after me," Mayhew says. "He threw a punch and I moved out of the way and threw him into a corner."
He claims he got him on the ground and calmed him down and called 911.
"I told them (911) what I perceived to be happening at the time," he says.
But when police arrived they arrested both the man and Mayhew.
"They threw me up against the car," he says.
Mayhew was charged with assault and burglary. He entered the victim's home and assaulted her husband.
"It turns out they made all these allegations against me and nobody believed me," Mayhew says.
But several months later the case was dismissed because the witnesses (husband and alleged victim) didn't show up for court.
ABC 4 News talked with the alleged victim who still lived in the same apartment.
"He's not a good person that's all I have to tell you," the woman said from behind a closed door.
Mayhew is suing South Salt Lake police for making a false arrest.
But he says the next time he hears a distress call, he'll have second thoughts.
"It makes me want to do nothing," Mayhew says. "It makes me want to stay out,"
