Pitt County trooper punched in the face

Trooper Amanda Signs was responding to a hit and run on Joe Stocks Road Thursday when the incident occurred.

The Highway Patrol said Signs was interviewing one of the drivers when the other driver returned to the scene and started a fight with her.

Signs was punched in the face several times. She tried to use mace to stop the attack, but was unsuccessful. Four bystanders helped break up the fight.

The suspect, Robert Lewis Stocks, 29, of Ayden, was arrested. He is charged with driving while intoxicated, resisting a public officer, assault inflicting serious injury, felony assault and felony assault on a law enforcement officer.

Signs was taken to Pitt Memorial Hospital with a broken nose, multiple lacerations and bruises on her face. She was treated and released.