By Don Murtha
The Mount Angel City Council honored two courageous women for risking bodily harm when they saved a woman who was being attacked by her ex-boyfriend.
Mount Angel residents Autumn Brown and Leanne Zuccone were each presented a plaque for their brave actions in “a potentially deadly situation.”
Mount Angel Mayor Andrew Otte, along with Mount Angel Police Chief Michael Healy and Officer Charlie Hall, presented the honors to Brown and Zuccone at the Sept. 3 city council meeting.
“I am really proud of you two women,” Chief Healy said. “Were it not for your brave action, there is no telling how this situation might have turned out.”
The incident took place June 21 when the two women witnessed a man attacking a petite woman.
According to the police report, he grabbed the victim by her wrist and punched her at least three times with closed fists.
Witnessing the violence toward the woman made Zuccone and Brown extremely “mad” and prompted them to act.
“When I saw his body language, it was so aggressive I knew this was not good,” Zuccone said.
Brown said she tried to distract the man, who was trying to drag the victim to her apartment. “We got him to direct his attention to us and he turned on us,” Brown said.
Brown told Zuccone to call 911. Then, she told the attacker that everybody in the apartment complex was watching him.
“He said, ‘Go ahead and call the police. I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve been in jail before.’” Brown said.
“I was so mad,” Zuccone said,” I couldn’t believe what he was doing to (the victim.)”
When Mount Angel Police Officer Hall arrived on the scene, the man directed his violence on him. More officers arrived.
“The suspect was detained but remained combative, irate and totally uncooperative,” Hall wrote in the police report.
The man was arrested, jailed and later pled guilty and was released on probation.
The report also noted that Brown and Zuccone divided his attention so the victim could escape to her apartment and lock the door.
Officer Hall recommended that Brown and Zuccone be recognized for their action.
In his report, Hall wrote, “In an era where it is all too common to hear of capable bystanders that see another in need, but choose to remain uninvolved, but Leanne Zuccone and Autumn Brown stepped up and put themselves in between the attacker and this young woman. If the suspect’s demeanor is any indication of what he may have been capable of, there is little doubt that further harm was prevented by the actions of these two women.”
