A recently homeless man in Washington, D.C., says he was just looking for a place to sleep when he witnessed a man attempting to rape a woman and knew he had to intervene.
“Even though I’m going through hard times, God put in me in a place where I could help,” Ketrell Ferguson told NBC Washington. “I was at the right place at right time.”
The suspect, Alemen Gonzalo, allegedly attempted to pay a woman for sex, but when she refused, he tried to rape her, said authorities.
Ferguson said that he had family members who had been raped and knew he could not just stand by. He grabbed a stick and half of a brick and approached the scene.
“As soon as he lifted his head up, I smacked him with the stick hard as I could in his head,” Ferguson said. “He fell off the lady, stumbled and I smacked him again and I just kept smacking him with the stick as hard as I could.”
Gonzalo, 23, was found at around 4 a.m. not far away from the scene, bleeding from the head. He has since been charged with assault as well as with the intent to commit first-degree sexual abuse.