Good deeds go unpunished, apparently, and in Central Florida, that’s more of a legal warning than a saying. Hans Hamilton was minding his own business, driving north on Highway 429 near Walt Disney World, when he noticed a white Lexus making a little too much friction with the guardrail. Being the kind of guy most of us just pretend to be, he pulled over to help.
The decision landed him in the hospital with a brain hemorrhage, a concussion, four broken ribs and a medical bill that would turn anyone’s stomach. His Tesla captured the entire ordeal on camera, but it also showed more wear and tear because the man he stopped to help used its hood and roof as a personal trampoline before things got even uglier.
“This man tried to kill me,” Hamilton said afterward. “I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did.” Hamilton has since started a GoFundMe to help pay for the massive medical and car bills that his family, living paycheck to paycheck, are now struggling with. No one with a conscience can ignore the irony of needing crowdfunding after being punished for being a decent human being.
What Tesla cameras captured (and you can’t ignore it)
When Hamilton first pulled over, the driver of the Lexus, later identified as 44-year-old Daniel Coleman, appeared to stagger out of the car and fall to the grass. Not moving. Looks very much like a man in need of help. However, as Hamilton stepped out of his Tesla, Koeman apparently miraculously recovered, leaping to his feet and sprinting towards the car.
Coleman jumped on the hood and roof of Hamilton’s Tesla, causing the windshield to collapse, then threw Hamilton to the ground. For nearly 30 seconds, he punched Hamilton repeatedly in the head, face, neck and back. Hamilton eventually managed to break free by hitting Koeman in the throat, which all things considered seemed like a reasonable response to being ambushed on the side of the motorway.
Arrests, detentions and the frustrating parts
When an Orange County deputy arrived and attempted to detain Coleman, Coleman approached and punched the officer in what Diplomacy described in the arrest report as “an aggressive fighting manner.” Hamilton, still battered from the beating he had just received, helped Coleman wrestle him to the ground so the deputy could handcuff him. The man did help arrest his attacker. This is a commitment to civic duty that deserves its own category.
Coleman was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, assault on a law enforcement officer, battery and criminal mischief. Investigators also linked him to another hit-and-run crash two miles south of the scene and tagged him as a suspect in a similar incident earlier that morning. While speaking to his deputy, Koeman claimed he only spoke Spanish, despite speaking to Hamilton in English minutes earlier. Deputies initially asked that he be held without bail. The judge set it at $5,000.
Coleman, who missed his first court appearance due to an unexplained hospitalization, remained in custody at the Orange County Jail as of Thursday. Hamilton, meanwhile, is recovering from injuries that would sideline anyone and facing bills that have nothing to do with anything he did wrong.
If you would like to support Hamilton’s recovery, his GoFundMe has been launched. If you happen to see a crashed car on a Florida highway, maybe, just maybe, call 911 and let the professionals handle it. The days of roadside heroism apparently come with risks that no one mentions in the brochures.