Woman Trying to Help After Crash, Bitten

(03-27) 18:57 PDT New Castle, Ind. (AP) --

A woman who tried to help after a car crash was punched and bitten by the man she was trying to assist, police said. "It was just crazy. I was just trying to help," 28-year-old Danielle Herndon of New Castle said Wednesday.

Rex Allen Shannon, 21, Middletown, was being held Wednesday night in eastern Indiana's Henry County Jail on charges of battery resulting in bodily injury, battery by body waste, intimidation, public intoxication, driving while intoxicated and resisting law enforcement. His bond was set at $39,500.

Two of the charges are felonies with a possible penalty of two to eight years in prison; three are felonies punishable by six months to three years in prison.

Authorities said Herndon was riding home from Indianapolis with her mother on Interstate 70 Tuesday night when a car driven by Shannon passed her in the grass, crossed the highway, flipped and landed south of the road.

"I thought he was dead," Herndon said.

Her mother, who was driving, pulled over and Herndon called 911, then ran to the other car. Shannon already had climbed out, she said.

"I leaned down and asked him 'Are you OK?' I didn't see any blood or anything. 'Are you OK? Is everything OK?' And he started cussing me," Herndon said.

Shannon then charged toward her mother and hit and bit Herndon when she got in the way, Herndon said.

"He was still biting me when the cops finally showed up," Herndon said.

When Indiana State Police Trooper Dave Whitinger arrived, he handcuffed Shannon. When another police officer and a medic arrived, Shannon kicked and spat on both men, Whitinger said.

"In 11 years I'd never seen anything like it," Whitinger said. "Definitely a weird one."

Herndon said the ring finger on her left hand was broken and doctors told her that her nose might also be broken.