The 27-year-old man was seen climbing trees, darting in and out of traffic. Then he dove into an assisted living facility before continuing to run into the street. It took 3 police officers and the help of a good Samaritan to restrain the  wild man.

 

"He looked like he was hiding from everybody but he was very agitated or like somebody was chasing him," Jack Cioffi, who saw the whole thing unfold, said.

  

But no one was chasing the 27-year-old man. Instead cars tried desperately to avoid him as he dodged in and out of traffic before running into into an assisted living facility and then back into the busy street. When police arrived, he wanted nothing to do with them and refused arrest.

 

"He got very agitated and combative and it came to a big raucous," Cioffi said.

 

"A struggle ensued on the ground," Palm Springs Police Sergeant Mike Kovaleff said. "It was so violent that a citizen actually began assisting the officers." 

 

Two of the officers have moderate injuries from the scuffle. The third was treated for minor injuries. The citizen that helped out wasn't hurt at all.

 

The man's bizarre behavior was enough to stop traffic on Sunrise Way for most of the morning as police and fire investigators tried to figure out what exactly happened. 

 

"He was just going back and forth out in the street out in the traffic and they said he was drunk," neighbor Daisy Crawford said. 

 

After subduing the man, police say he stopped breathing but they were able to revive him. He's in critical condition at a local hospital. As for residents like Jack, he's hoping not to encounter another crazed man anytime soon.

 

Police say the man could face assault charges for violently refusing arrest. 

 

--Adrianna Weingold

aweingold@kmir6.com