Tampa man accused of stabbing other driver after 3-vehicle crash on Howard Frankland

A 38-year-old Tampa man has been arrested after he repeatedly stabbed another man following a collision involving three vehicles on the Howard Frankland Bridge on Tuesday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

A 40-year-old Tampa man was driving a sedan southbound on Interstate 275 when he and his 43-year-old wife noticed a vehicle that was stopped in the travel lanes of the bridge shortly before 9:24 a.m. The 35-year-old driver, also of Tampa, was slumped over inside his sedan, troopers said, so the couple pulled over in front of the car to help.

The 40-year-old man was unable to get inside the other sedan, so he walked back to his car to get something that could break the window. While he was doing that, the 35-year-old man woke up and accelerated forward, crashing into the couple’s sedan, the Highway Patrol said in a Tuesday evening news release.

He shifted into reverse and then attempted to get around the couple’s sedan, according to troopers, but at that point, he struck a sedan passing by the scene.

The driver of that sedan, identified in the release as Patrick Douglas Scruggs, pulled over, got out and walked up to the driver of the vehicle that hit his car. According to the Highway Patrol, Scruggs broke a window and started stabbing the 35-year-old man with a pocketknife.

The couple returned to the vehicle to help the man being stabbed, but Scruggs then tried to stab them and they fled, the release said.

A St. Petersburg Police Department officer driving past saw the commotion and pulled over to help, the Highway Patrol said. The officer detained Scruggs and called for assistance.

The 35-year-old man was taken to a local hospital with injuries authorities described as serious but not life-threatening.

After an initial investigation, troopers arrested Scruggs.

Scruggs was booked into the Pinellas County Jail, where he was being held on $65,000 bond Tuesday night, jail records show. He faces charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and armed burglary.

Portions of I-275 were closed for nearly three hours, according to the Highway Patrol.