Jeff Hughes, a 35-year Glendale resident, saved a woman, who was being attacked and chased, from further assault in the 800 block of East Dryden Street on Aug. 4.
The suspect allegedly involved in this attack was arrested for battery following the incident, Sgt. Victor Jackson, the public information officer for the Glendale Police Department, told the News-Press. Jackson also said the suspect had allegedly sexually assaulted another woman earlier that day.
Hughes, who drives a trash truck for the city of Glendale, was on his normal route when he noticed a man and a woman, who at first, appeared to be arguing, Hughes told the News-Press. When the woman came dashing toward his truck, Hughes realized something more serious must have been going on.
“I saw her running across the street towards me, and it looked like she was yelling something or screaming,” Hughes said. “And she had her hands waving in the air and so I stopped my truck real quickly.”
When he asked the woman, who he estimated is about 25, what was going on, she told him she was being chased, according to Hughes. He also remembers her telling police the man had pushed her down.
By the time Hughes got out of his truck to check out the situation, the man was already near the front of his truck.
“He was definitely after her,” Hughes said. “He wasn’t nonchalantly walking across the street. He must have run … it didn’t take him but a couple of seconds to go almost all the way across the street and it’s a wide street.” Hughes said he did not get a great look at the suspect but he estimates he was in his mid-20s to early 30s.
Once Hughes noticed the man, he said he yelled at him at which point, the suspect took off. The woman called 911 and police arrived within two minutes, Hughes said, and he pointed them in the direction the suspect was heading, ultimately leading to an arrest.
First published in the August 19 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
