PHILADELPHIA – A woman on a bike ride chased a man accused of sexually assaulting a 63-year-old woman, hit him with her helmet, and photographed him as he ran.
Police are still searching for him.
The alleged attack happened Monday around 4:15 p.m. in the city’s Point Breeze neighborhood.
Mary Martin, the bystander, said she stopped the assault while it was still in progress. She used two tools: her voice and her bike helmet.
Martin described what she saw as the man left the scene.
“I was really mad. He was casually walking away as she was really upset,” Martin said.
She said she would not let him escape. Her stated goal was to make sure police could put a name to his face.
“We just want to make sure whoever this guy is, is identified,” she said.
One witness saw part of the chase. That person told reporters a woman was running after the suspect, helmet in hand, calling out to him.
“A woman was running after the suspect with her bike helmet and saying, ‘How dare you? How dare you?” the witness said.
Martin said the victim’s condition drove her to step in. She said she looked at the woman’s face and saw how shaken she was.
“When I saw her face and how upset she was, I was really mad that someone would do that to someone. I was holding my bike helmet, so I started hitting him with it,” she said. “I realized, ‘You’re putting yourself in an unsafe situation.'”
Martin then changed tactics. She photographed the man as he ran, then went back to check on the victim.
She handed the photos to detectives. Police have since released images of the suspect running from the scene.
Martin said she owes her decision to act in part to training she has received. She also pointed to what she has learned about the bystander effect, which she called harmful.
She urged other people to speak up when they see bad behavior.
“If you see something, say something. There’s a lot of power in calling out gross behavior. He didn’t stop because she was yelling; it wasn’t until I, outside the situation, interrupted him and said, ‘What you’re doing isn’t OK,” she said.
Once the confrontation ended, Martin stayed with the victim. She went with her to the Special Victims Unit, where the woman made a report.
No arrest has been announced. Police are still searching for the suspect.
