Police are searching for a man accused of grabbing and groping a woman in her 60s in broad daylight in Philadelphia's Point Breeze neighborhood.
The assault happened around 4:15 p.m. near 18th and Federal streets. Investigators said the woman was walking down the block when a man approached her from behind, grabbed her and groped her.
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Several people were nearby at restaurants when the assault happened.
Mary Martin told NBC10 she stepped in to help the woman and confronted the man. She said the man was "gyrating" against the woman.
Martin said she tried to stop the man from leaving.
“He tried to walk past me and a couple other people. I just kept yelling at him and I was hitting him with my bike helmet because I didn’t want him to leave the scene,” Martin said.
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The victim was visiting her son in Philadelphia, according to officials.
After hitting the man with her bike helmet several times, Martin took photos as he ran away and gave them to detectives investigating the assault. Martin said she also accompanied the woman to the Special Victims' Unit.
Melissa Repko, who lives directly across the street, said she was thankful someone intervened.
“I think a lot of people are also concerned that an individual is doing this in broad daylight, in front of a business that is active and open, that’s not normal. That’s not somebody who’s coming out to be a predator at night. That is somebody who is also suffering,” Repko said.
Martin encouraged people in Philadelphia to look out for one another.
“When we’re living in a city like Philadelphia, we have to look out for each other. So I would just encourage anyone, if you see something, a really easy way to de-escalate it is to call attention to the negative behavior and say hey that’s not okay,” Martin said.
People in the neighborhood said they were not afraid to go about their daily lives but did not want to see the situation escalate. According to officials, no one had seen the man in the neighborhood before.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.