AKRON, Ohio (WJW) — Ohio’s American Red Cross of Greater Akron honored good Samaritans on Thursday night for incredible acts of heroism, and among them were three women who came to the rescue of a victim being attacked in a local park.
The dramatic story began to unfold Aug. 12, 2024, when the three friends decided to go for a walk at Cascade Valley Metro Park in Akron and heard a woman yelling for help.
“When we came around the corner, I saw her with a man who was holding her, and she was screaming and fighting, and I just kept running right down to them.” Donna McFadden, 65, told NewsNation local affiliate FOX 8.
McFadden told her friends, 67-year-old Susan Victor and 65-year-old Laura Rufe, to call 911, and then she confronted the man, 32-year-old Isaac Armour, who had grabbed the 33-year-old woman from behind after she came out of a park bathroom.
“He tried to say, ‘oh we’re together,’ and you know, ‘we’re arguing and she’s being dramatic.’ I didn’t believe him for one second,” McFadden said.
“Donna started yelling at him, ‘let her go, let her go,’ because the woman was screaming, ‘don’t leave, please don’t leave, he’s holding me,’” Victor added.
That’s when McFadden took matters into her own hands.
“I was hitting him and pushing him and screaming for him to stop, and he didn’t, so I picked up a rock and I hit him in the head with it,” she said.
“She threatened him again with a second rock, and he was just like ‘okay lady, okay,’ and then he let her go,” Rufe said, continuing the story.
Armour was arrested and now faces charges that include kidnapping and attempted rape.
The victim told investigators the three women arrived just in time.
“She was at the point where she said she was ready to just give up because she felt no one was going to help her,” McFadden said.
“We were where we needed to be at the time she needed us. You know, and I think she even said, ‘Those were my three angels,'” Rufe said.
The courageous women believe it was fate or divine intervention that brought them to Cascade Valley that day.
They were planning on going to a different park but at the last minute changed their plans because they wanted to see the eagles that nest at Cascade Valley.
For their actions, McFadden, Victor and Rufe were recognized by the American Red Cross with the organization’s Acts of Courage Awards.
“To do that and to not think ‘Gosh, I could get hurt today too,’ they just did it to help another human being, and it was incredible. Absolutely incredible,” said Rachel Stine, executive director of the Red Cross Chapter of Greater Akron.
