Police in Tempe, Arizona, have honored a New England Patriots player who is said to have saved an elderly woman from being sexually assaulted in the city over the weekend.
Police said Justin Herron, a 300-foot offensive line man, offensive on the team, was working in a Tempe park on Saturday morning when he heard someone shouting for help.
Herron told police he found a man, Kevin Caballero, 30, who attacked a 71-year-old woman and threatened to rape her.
Police said Herron and another local resident attacked Caballero and kept him stopped until police could get to the scene.
“At the time, I was shocked,” Herron said, according to USA Today. “It was 11 in the morning, in the middle of the day, in a very open field and the fact that I was passing by at that time was very shocking. I wish I could tell you what I thought, but I could only tell someone who needed help. All I could do was rush over there to make sure I could help the victim and that I could comfort her and be the best person I could be. “
For his quick reflection, Herron and the other man who helped him received the “Exceptional Service” award from the Tempe Police Department.
“I’m a football player, I’m a little big. I try not to be too aggressive with people who know they can hurt someone,” Herron said. “I have a loud voice. I yelled, I told her to get off her and then I ripped her off and I told her to sit down and I told her to wait until the cops came.”
The woman, who suffered no major injuries, was taken to a local hospital and treated.
The second man, Murry Rogers, said neither he nor Herron knew the attacker before the incident.
“I’m almost twice as old as Justin,” Rogers said, according to the newspaper. “So I did my best to run into the situation and help him as best I could. We called on him to come down. Once the attacker came down from the victim, we looked at each other and said, ‘We have to make sure- us that goes nowhere. He put a lot of effort into making sure he sat down, didn’t move, and waited for the police. “