It's nice to know, given how many awful stories we hear every day, that there are people out there like Sharon Wise. Wise, 65, is a employee at the Maine State Museum who more or less prevented a little girl from being abducted by a man she says tried to pull her away by her wrist. Thanks to her vigilance and quick thinking, the toddler is safely with her family -- and we can't help feeling like this woman deserves a medal, the key to the city or, at the very least, a year's worth of free spa treatments.
Wise was reportedly working at the museum reception desk when she noticed a man run over to a 2-year-old girl and start to pull her wrist. The girl's grandmother had turned her head just for a second to hang up their coats when Wise says the suspect made a move to take the toddler.
Wise says she acted "instinctively" and bent over to cover herself over the young girl. She says she repeatedly told the man in a very low voice to leave her alone and that the man didn't listen -- he kept pulling her away.
This courageous woman took things one step further and wedged herself in between the man and the girl. She says she then looked him in the eye and made it clear that he better let go of her. The suspect reportedly looked her back in the eye and then dropped the child's hand and fled.
Even better news: police caught the suspect, who has been identified as James Cavallaro, while he was still in the museum parking lot. He has been charged with assault and is being held in jail.
What a wonderful woman -- and even more wonderful is that Wise says anyone else in her shoes would have done the same thing. I hope she knows how brave she was -- she didn't have a clue whether the man had a weapon on him or what he could do -- she simply did what was right and protected this little girl from god knows what.
Do you think you could do what Wise did if you were in her position?
Image via MegaBu7/Flickr