Off-Duty Cop Puts Anniversary Dinner On Hold to Capture Jogger's Attacker

Just because he was off duty, out of his own county and on the way to celebrate his anniversary with his wife didn’t mean a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy could turn down a person in need.

The deputy was flagged down by a woman around 7 p.m. Wednesday in Martin County, sheriff’s office reported on its Facebook page. The woman was out jogging near U.S. 1 in Hobe Sound when a man came out of a wooded area and grabbed her.

The attacker began choking the woman and “pounded her head into the ground and tried to sexually batter her,” WPBF quoted Martin County Sheriff’s William Snyder as saying.

The woman, however, fought him off, ran to the road and tried to flag down help.

That help arrived when the off-duty deputy spotted her.

He not only stopped, but captured the man in question and held him until Martin County officials could arrive.

The deputy, who has not been identified, was on his way to meet his wife to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary, the Palm Beach Post reported.

“He is really a superhero in my opinion,” the Post quoted Snyder as saying.

Deputies arrested Steven Gorgis, 21, in the attack. As of Thursday afternoon, Gorgis had yet to be booked into the Martin County Jail, but deputies say he faces a number of charges, including kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Martin County deputies are “working with other local agencies to determine if this suspect is responsible for a number of similar attacks that have recently taken place,” the sheriff’s office Facebook page said.

Gorgis told deputies that he is originally from Iraq and came to the Miami area in 2000.

“Sheriff Snyder credits the victim for fighting Gorgis as he tried to strangle her and drag her in the woods,” the Facebook page said. “He also praises an off-duty Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy for his quick and heroic actions.”

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Photo Credit: Steven Gorgis/Martin County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page