TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A dramatic scene unfolded in Tampa Sunday night as police said a number of officers chased 48-year-old Jeremiah Bailey onto I-275.

Investigators said police rammed Bailey’s car before several officers got out to make the arrest.

That’s when Bailey got out of his car and appeared to reach for a weapon, police said.

According to investigators, he was then shot and killed by seven Tampa police officers.

Three officers were injured in the crossfire.

Eric Archield said the story really started at the Dollar General on Dale Mabry.

“I pull in in the back and I see a white Honda Accord by himself,” he recalled.

Archield said he went in to get some snacks and came out to a surprise.

“I come out, and he’s parked directly next to my door,” he explained. “I can’t open my door.”

He then told Bailey to move his car, never expecting what would come next.

“I pull out, next thing I know, I see headlights behind me, bend this corner, still see the headlights, bend this corner, still see the headlights,” he said. “I must’ve turned, you know, maybe five or six streets.”

Archield said he stopped by his friend’s house hoping Bailey would see a crowd of people and leave.

“As soon as I walked out, he had a tennis racket [and] started waving it around, saying some stuff,” he recalled. “He really wasn’t paying no mind.”

“So we walk toward him, he picks up a chair and throws it at us,” Archield continued.

That’s when he said his friend, Gerald, went inside, grabbed a gun, and sent off a warning shot into the ground.

He said Bailey then took off.

“I think he thought it was a through street, but it’s a dead end so he turns around and does 60 towards us,” Archield recalled.

He said, at this point, Bailey was racing toward him in reverse.

“I’m like, you’re getting really close to my car,” Archield recalled. “So I walk around into my car and that’s when he punches it, and that’s when he hits me.”

“That’s when I spin, fly, [and] hit the ground,” he said.

Archield said that moment is the most pivotal part of this story.

“I was still on that ground,” he explained. “That man could’ve easily backed up and ran over me like that, but Gerald fired off and he saved me.”

Archield said if it weren’t for his friend Gerald Smith, he might not be here.

News Channel 8 On Your Side spoke with Smith Monday to get his perspective on what happened.

“The guy got out the car, threw the chair at us. I went in and got my gun and came back out,” Smith said. “He tried to hit me with the car, then he hit my buddy with the car, so I just fired off shots.”

Archield said what happened Sunday night put his life into perspective, saying he won’t be taking his cross off is neck off anytime soon.

“Not taking it off,” he said. “Yeah, it’s definitely put a lot into perspective for me, because I could’ve literally lost my life last night.”

“I could not be here, not watch my son go off to college,” Archield continued.