Police say a man who was fatally shot by a King County sheriff's deputy had knocked the deputy to the ground and bit and kicked him following a traffic stop early this morning. The man managed to rip the cord from the officer's portable radio and returned to his car. The man was in his car when he was shot by the deputy. The man died at the scene. The King County Medical Examiner's Office did not immediately release the name of the 33-year-old man.

The sheriff's office has not named the deputy. He is 28 and has been on the force for five years. The deputy was driving a woman to jail on a drug charge when he saw a gray 1990s-model Pontiac Bonneville cutting through traffic erratically, said sheriff spokesman John Urquhart. The deputy signaled for the driver to pull over, but the man stopped the car in the middle of the northbound lanes of Interstate 5. . When the officer got the driver to move to the side of the road near the Swift-Albro exit, and approached, the driver jumped out of the car and attacked him, and a "knock-down, drag-out" fight ensued, Urquhart said.

The deputy was able to call for backup. Two Seattle police cars were heading to the scene when they collided at an intersection near the freeway. Both officers were taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries and were later released.

Following the shooting, the deputy, who is assigned to the SeaTac precinct, was also taken to Harborview to be treated for bites and bruises. He will be on routine, paid administrative leave while the incident is being investigated.

The deputy had arrested the drug suspect -- who witnessed the shooting – about an hour earlier. He was taking her to the King County Jail in Seattle when the incident occurred. She is cooperating with detectives investigating the shooting.

The northbound lanes of I-5 were closed for the investigation but were reopened by 7:45 a.m.