First Published:
10:09 AM PDT, May 12, 2022
A motorist is being lauded for saving a woman from an attempted kidnapping. Ariel Naylor didn’t think twice when she pulled over as the victim was being dragged away on the side of the road.
The frightening abduction was captured on surveillance video near Boston. The victim, a young mother, was leaving work when she realized a man was following her. He grabbed her, and they ended up in a violent struggle. She tried to make a run for it, but couldn’t break away.
Then, hope came in the form of approaching headlights. Naylor was driving home from work when she saw the struggle, and had the courage to pull over.
“He was dragging her towards this area where she probably wouldn’t have been seen if she had made it another 15 feet,” Naylor said.
The attacker lost his nerve, and the victim made her escape. Naylor called 911.
“I just saw some guy just try to abduct a girl. I’m on the side of the road where she’s got no shirt on,” she told the dispatcher.
The suspect ran off. “I don’t know where he went. He took off when I slammed on my brake,” Naylor said.
Police identified the suspected attacker as 23-year-old Tyler Healey. At his arraignment Wednesday, Naylor met the victim’s family — grateful that a total stranger came to their loved one’s rescue.
Naylor also reunited with the woman she rescued, Zayra Mendoza, who says she thought she was going to die on that dark street.
“The fear in her eyes is something I will probably never forget,” Naylor said.
The suspect was turned in by his own father, who recognized his brightly colored sneakers on the video. He’s pleaded not guilty.
