Dad tells cops he caught a rideshare driver sexually assaulting his daughter. So he did what dads do.

A father told police in Washington state he caught a rideshare driver sexually assaulting his daughter and got physical with the driver and fired his gun, the Olympian reported.

Thurston County Sheriff’s deputies around 1 a.m. Saturday were dispatched to Sixth Avenue Southeast and Old Pacific Highway — a fishing location on the Nisqually River — over a report of a weapons violation, the paper said.

The female's father told deputies he discovered his daughter being sexually assaulted, 'beat up the driver a little bit,' and fired the gun.

Two shell casings were found at the scene, the Olympian added.

A deputy who stopped a motorist attempting to flee the scene noticed the motorist was injured, Fox News reported, adding that detectives determined the motorist was a rideshare driver who had provided transportation to a "highly intoxicated female."

The driver had suffered injuries in a fight but wasn’t shot, Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Brooks said Sunday, according to the Olympian.

The female's father told deputies he discovered his daughter being sexually assaulted, “beat up the driver a little bit,” and fired the gun, Brooks told the paper, adding that the timing of the physical altercation and the gunshots wasn't clear.

The 58-year-old driver was treated for his injuries at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia and then booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree rape, the Olympian reported.

Those with information about this incident should call the nonemergency dispatch line at 360-704-2740 or send an email to detectives@co.thurston.wa.us, the paper added.

How are observers reacting?

Nearly 1,000 comments so far have appeared underneath the Fox News story about the incident, which was published Monday on Yahoo News. As you might imagine, a number of commenters are sympathetic toward the father:

• "The father did what every red-blooded American father would do to protect his daughter!" one commenter declared. "Kudos to him for being a real father!"
• "The dad was defending protecting his daughter, and tried his best to stop the criminal assault in progress," another commenter said. "He saved his daughter's life."
• "It's uplifting to have some good news for once," another commenter noted.
• "It's Washington state, so the father's freedom is still up in the air, but great job dad," another commenter added. "Shame you didn't put him underground."
• "I'm a progressive individual, but even I feel the dad was well within his rights as a father," another commenter stated.

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