A group of civilians came to the aid of a Modesto, CA, police officer Tuesday when the officer and a man were fighting on the ground and the man reportedly tried to take the officer's weapons.

Video shows the moments leading up to the fight when the officer responded to a possible car break-in near a convenience store Tuesday afternoon. The officer tried to detain the man, identified as 31-year old Daniel Steffens. Steffens complies at first, then begins to resist. When the officer begins to pat Steffens down, that is when police say he attempted to take the officer’s taser and then his gun.

“He got it partially out of the holster but security measures that the holster has kept it from coming out,” Sharon Bear, Modesto police spokesperson told CBS .

The officer screamed for help and the Good Samaritans came running.

“This girl puts him in a chokehold and that’s what it took to take the guy down and to help that officer. I don’t know if the officer would have gone home to his family that night if that guy would’ve been able to get his gun,” explained witness Mark Davis.

Davis says he saw the aftermath of the gun grab attack.

“His holster was actually hanging down and he had broken two of the safety restraints that keep someone from taking an officer’s gun,” he explained.