New England Patriots reserve offensive attack, Justin Herron, was honored Wednesday by the Tempe (Arizona) Police Department for helping stop a sexual assault attempt in a park four days earlier.
Police said a 30-year-old suspect was seen pushing a 71-year-old retired teacher to the ground on Saturday. Then Herron and a second man, Murry Rogers, step in.
Herron, a Wake Forest sixth-round pick from 2020 who played in 12 games last season (six starts), trained in Arizona.
“We are here to honor two good Samaritans who intervened during this heinous attack and detained the suspect until police were able to reach and ensure he was taken into custody,” said Detective Natalie Barela of the Police Department in Tempe at a press conference. “If it weren’t for the swift actions of Mr. Justin Herron and Mr. Murry Rogers, this cruel attack could have been much more serious.”
Police Chief Jeff Glover said: “The impact they had on our victim’s life; these two people took a step forward and really saved her life.”
Barela said the victim experienced “a significant amount of trauma, but he works through some of these things and is doing physically well.”
At Wednesday’s press conference, 25-year-old Herron and Rogers received a “remarkable citizen” certificate from police. Herron said he heard screams in the park and reacted.
“You see it all the time in movies and television, but you never think it’s going to happen in real life until it happens. At that point, I was shocked,” Herron said.
“It was 11, in the middle of the day, no clouds in the sky and in a very open field. The fact that it happened there, at that moment, was very shocking. At this moment, I wish I could tell you what I was thinking. I knew it’s just that someone just needs help. All I could do was hurry there to make sure I could help the victim and make sure I could comfort her and be the best person I could be. “
Herron, who is 6-feet 5 and 305 pounds and set the Wake Forest record with 51 games started in his college career, said his size helped.
“I’m a football player, so I’m a little big,” Herron said. “I try not to be too aggressive with people who know they can hurt someone. I have a very strong voice, so all I did was shout, tell her to get off her and then snatch him. And I told him to sit down and wait for the cops to come. “
Police said the victim had met Herron and Rogers since then and “there was no dry eye in the room.”