'She Was Screaming For Help': Man Interrupts Attempted Kidnapping At Methuen Market Basket
METHUEN (CBS) -- "I heard her: help, help! She was screaming for help," Jay Sarcione told WBZ-TV Sunday he helped interrupt an attempted kidnapping, saving a woman.
A Lawrence man was arrested Friday night after police said he tried to force his way into a woman's car at a Methuen Market Basket.
Sarcione was in his snowplow when heard the woman's screams in the parking lot. When he realized a woman in her car was being attacked, he did not hesitate for a minute.
"It looked like someone was in a struggle. But then I started hearing the horn and the light went on inside the car, like the visor light, and I could see the woman, she was getting choked pretty hard and strong and she was getting pushed into the passenger seat," he recalled.
Sarcione said he rushed to help the woman and the man, identified by police as 53-year-old Rafael Rosario, ran off.
"So she had got out and said 'oh my God.' I said 'Do you know him?' 'No no no!'" said Sarcione.
"And he ran and I decided to run after him. I told her prior, I said call the police, call the police and then I ran after him."
Sarcione said he was gaining on Rosario when Rosario turned around and appeared to move his hand towards his waist, possibly toward a gun. "The street was real dark so I couldn't see, but obviously I started slowing down," Sarcione said.
Police arrived shortly thereafter. They found Rosario lying in the snow along the fence of a property on a nearby street and arrested him.
"Going after him outweighed not because if he got away, then you know, he could do it to someone else in a day, in six months, or something. But someone that's going to approach a woman in her car when there's a ton of people around and try to attack and get in her car with her probably isn't someone that should be lurking around anyways," said
Rosario is facing multiple charges including strangulation, attempted kidnapping, and attempted carjacking. He is due in court Monday.
