'Just Trying To Help Somebody,': Tulsa Man Accused Of Murder Claims Self-Defense

A man accused of murder said he had no choice when he shot another man in the middle of the street.

David Scott is in jail on second-degree murder complaints in the death of Temp Burdick – a man he said he feared and shot in self-defense.

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"I shouldn't be here, I mean, not over what had happened, you know. To me, I was in my right for defending myself," he said.

Scott said the whole thing started when he got a call from Burdick's girlfriend who told him Burdick had been abusing her and she needed a ride.

"Somebody calls you frantic, wanting you to come help them ‘cause they need a ride out because their boyfriend's beating on them. It's hard to turn your cheek and be like, ‘oh well,’" Scott said. "I just went to give her a ride out of the situation, that's all."

Scott said he and the woman were driving to a friend’s house when Burdick caught up to them.

"He flew by me, pulls in front of me, blocks me off. Jumps out with a crowbar, comes swinging and busts my window out. And when he bust my window out, that's when I reach for my gun ‘cause he was rearing back fixing to swing again, talking about he was going to kill me," Scott said. "He was screaming he was going to kill me, and when he busted out my window, that was the first thing I was thinking, he's going to hit me, stab me, kill me, hurt me somehow, some way. This guy is crazy."

Scott said he fired one shot then drove off.

"I would have stayed on the scene if I would have known I had hit him. I would have stayed there, I wouldn't have left," he said.

Now, Scott said he's devastated and in jail for something he felt he had to do.

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"It's messed up it had to come to this because I'm looking at fighting for my life, you know, over something, I was just trying to help somebody. It's crazy," he said.

Tulsa Police said Scott should have let officers handle the situation, or, at very least, stayed at the scene after the shooting and things might have been different.

Investigators said there is no record of the woman reporting the abuse.