Police: Man caused crash, attacked driver because ‘devil took over’

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (3TV/CBS 5/Gray News) - Police say a man is in custody for allegedly crashing into another car intentionally and choking the driver after “the devil took over.”

On Thursday around 6 p.m., Goodyear police received a 911 call from a man who said he was involved in a crash with another driver who was attacking him.

Officers responded to the scene and detained a man, later identified as 36-year-old Jesse Michael Scott.

Police say that Scott admitted to crashing his Dodge Charger into the Dodge Durango because “the devil took over his body” and he “stopped listening to God.”

The impact caused the Durango to spin out with the driver, his 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter still inside.

According to police and court filings, Scott then attacked the man in the Durango after the crash and choked him to “expel the demons from inside” until he started to lose consciousness.

The man was able to break free from Scott’s attack and get help from witnesses in the area.

Scott was injured from fighting with the man and other witnesses, police said. He was taken to a hospital and released several hours later.

According to court documents, Scott told police during an additional interview that his name was now Jesus and he was having bad thoughts in his head for several days.

He told officers, according to police, that he couldn’t tell if the voices he was hearing in his head were his thoughts.

Scott was charged with one count of attempted murder and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

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