Brave Man Stands Between Catcallers And Women, Finds Chivalry Comes With Terrible Price
When a group of obnoxious catcallers shouted a bunch of garbage at some passing women outside of Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square park early Saturday morning, one brave man put himself between the women and the group of foul-mouthed punks in a black Nissan. The man had never seen the women before, and actually was only visiting Philadelphia. But, he saw the women being harassed, and he did something about it.
And then the fearless man found out that modern-day chivalry comes with a terrible price. The man, whose name has not been released by Philly cops but is said to hail from Texas, was at last report in stable condition at Philadelphia’s Hahnemann Hospital.
Here’s what happened.
The time was about 2:45 am Saturday at 18th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia’s Center City neighborhood — a usually bustling district during the day. But in the early morning hours, the streets are mostly empty.
The group of women, who have not been identified, was walking along a sidewalk by the park when the black Nissan pulled up, and the men inside started catcalling and yelling at the women.
The Texan man was also walking in the same neighborhood and clearly found the remarks by the men in the car highly offensive. So he yelled back at the men in the car, telling them, “Hey, watch what you’re saying,” according to an account by Philadelphia Police Captain George Fuchs.
His act of fundamental decency, standing up for the otherwise defenseless women, enraged the catcallers. One thug jumped out of the car and launched a sucker-punch attack on the chivalrous Good Samaritan.
He punched the Texan man in the face, knocking the man unconscious. As the brave man collapsed in a heap to the street, his head slammed into a cement curb.
The cowardly assailant then scampered back into the Nissan as fast as he could, and the car pulled away.
“This is a tragic, tragic story,” Captain Fuchs told Philly’s WCAU TV. “Here’s a guy trying to stick up for these girls, and he gets victimized.”
As for the women for whom the Texan stranger sacrificed nearly everything, they haven’t spoken up. But other women interviewed later in Rittenhouse Square said they would have been grateful to find a man with the kind of guts exhibited by the man from Texas.
“As a woman I’d appreciate someone stepping in,” said Erika Lawrence, interviewed by WPVI TV. “At night time, or at any time in the day, when someone is harassing you, you don’t know what to expect.”
“It’s awful, someone will be afraid to help in the future and it’s a shame,” said another, Anna Graziano.
Police are now looking for the black Nissan — which sported Delaware license plates — and the men inside.
Catcallers are an unwelcome feature of every American city. In a recent survey, 99 percent of the respondents, which included men as well as women, reported having been the victim of street harassment, and 65 percent said they were the target of catcallers at least once every month.
