TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A former federal prosecutor was in court Friday after being accused of stabbing a man on the Howard Frankland Bridge in 2023 during a traffic incident.

Patrick Scruggs is claiming he was in fear for his life and was forced to stab the driver of a car because he was worried about the safety of other drivers around him.

Scruggs is asking for the charges against him to be thrown out as part of a stand your ground defense.

Cellphone video taken at the scene shows Scruggs violently stabbing the driver of a car repeatedly during the incident. In the video, he walks away for a brief time before coming back and stabbing the driver again.

Ahmad Gahan was one of the first drivers on the scene and says he stopped because a car was stopped in a traffic lane in the middle of the bridge.

Gahan says he saw a driver passed out in the car and pounded on the window to wake him up.

“I talk to him, I said open the window, I help you,” said Gahan.

He says the passed-out driver then woke up and tried to drive off, hitting Scruggs’ car.

Gahan says Scruggs then became enraged and used the end of a knife to break out the driver’s window.

Gahan says he tried to get Scruggs to stop, and that’s when the former prosecutor came at him.

“He stopped him, and he almost stabbed me too,” said Gahan.

Amanda Post was in her car and watched it all unfold in front of her. “I was afraid if he saw me take a video of it, he could break down my window and come after me,” said Post.

Blake Sharp is the driver who was stabbed by Scruggs. He says he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs but had some type of medical episode that caused him to pass out.

Sharp has a long criminal history but angrily confronted Scruggs’ attorney from the stand, saying, “Just because I’m a felon, does not give your client the right to stab me.”

Sharp says his first memory of that day is being stabbed by Scruggs. “All I could think of was trying to call my wife and tell her I wouldn’t be coming home because some psychopath was stabbing me,” said Sharp.

Late in the day, Scruggs took the stand and told the court he was in fear for his life.

The judge told the state and defense attorneys he would issue a ruling on the stand your ground aspect of the case after he considered all of the evidence presented.