Good Samaritan shares story of helping woman robbed in alley in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Crime is an unfortunate part of daily life in Chicago. Shootings, robberies, carjackings, and scams often round out the headlines.
It's not every day we hear about someone trying to buck that trend. It's not even suggested by police to intervene or help during a robbery, but Joey Matteis said when he saw a young woman being robbed and dragged through an alley last month in Little Italy, and "screaming at the top of her lungs," he did something about it.
The video shows the man punching the woman in an attempt to get her purse. The woman refused to give over the purse, and the robber violently yanked her down the alley.
The woman was all alone, but during the attack she got the attention of Matteis and others. Her yells sent Matteis outside.
"It sounded like a blood-curdling scream, you know something was seriously wrong. I looked out my window and I just saw this little girl getting pulled into an alley, thrown on the ground," he said. "Then I ran outside. I just screamed at the top of my lungs to get away from her, stop."
Matteis said another Good Samaritan also started running down the alley towards the victim, and they both went to help her as the robber ran off.
A closer look at the video shows a sport-utility vehicle pulling in just seconds before the attack. The man in the yellow hoodie got out, and waited on the sidewalk for the woman to pass the alley.
The driver of the SUV also pulled down the alley to wait – leaving many to believe this was all planned.
Yet neither Matteis nor the others who jumped in ever thought twice about their own safety – or whether the robber had a gun.
"It's just the fact that I live with four different women in my building. That could have been my mother. That could have been my grandmother. That could have been my aunt. I didn't really think about it at the time. I just saw some defenseless woman getting attacked, and I just kind of acted on it," he said.
If you're wondering why the victim didn't just let go of the bag, her passport was apparently inside – and she moved to Chicago just days before the attack.
Police were still investigating the robbery.
