We at Contra Celsum are pleased to announce another S-Award.
Our social "glue" is disintegrating. As things fall apart and "beggar my neighbour" becomes the order of the day, contrary examples stand out like a beacon in a dark night. We at Contra Celsum want to honour publicly Tania Lewis--a heroine, not just because of her cool headed bravery, but because of her instant assistance to someone in dire need.
According to the NZ Herald the incident unfolded as follows:
A mother-of-two is being hailed a hero after saving a woman from an attack by a hammer-wielding man who then pursued the pair in a violent car chase. . . .
Police say Ms Lewis "put her life on the line" for a stranger during the drama in Whangarei on Tuesday evening. Ms Lewis had just taken a colleague home after work when she saw a woman running from a nearby property, waving her arms. "She said 'Please stop, you've got to stop'," Ms Lewis told the Herald yesterday. "I could see she was in shock, she had marks on her neck.
"I said 'Get in the car, you'll be safe with us'. I thought 'I'll just get her to the cop station or something'." But a man who was chasing the woman lunged at Ms Lewis's car with a hammer as she tried to drive off.
"He looked really scary. He had this real blank look on his face."
As the women - and Ms Lewis's 20-year-old son Kalin - sped down the street, the man gave chase in his own vehicle. "I thought 'I can't stop here because we're going to take the full impact'. He just wanted to kill her. "I quickly turned into the left lane, heard him screeching and he chased after us down the road and rammed into us from the back."
Ms Lewis slammed on her brakes and the man swerved in front of them. She drove around him "blaring my horn, hoping that everyone would get out of my way" as they came to a major intersection.
The man tried to ram her again as she turned into another street. "The force of it pushed us up on to the footpath. I knew we couldn't do anything and my son yelled 'Get out and run'.
"Then he [the attacker] went around the front of our car and rammed into the front of it.
"He saw [the woman] and went up onto the footpath to try to run her over and I've seen that and I've gone and grabbed her and we've just run to get out of the way."
The pair ran onto a property and crouched behind a house. The man was arrested a short time later.
Tania Lewis: recipient of a Contra Celsum S-Award, Class I, for performing a citizen's duty in a manner that was Smart, Spirited, Spunky, and Salutary.
Postscript: The Herald also reports that Tania worships at The Equip Church in Whangarei. The church is planning to give her a medal for bravery. Well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment