Cape or no cape, a super start to hero career
Published: October 8, 2004
I’ve always wanted to be a superhero, and this past Saturday afternoon was the closest I’ve ever come to being a caped crusader.
It was my average Saturday afternoon. I was coming back from the aquarium store in Framingham when I came upon a woman screaming and yelling, trying to flag down any vehicle in the middle of Route 9 in Wellesley.
Now I’m sure people don’t stop for women who are screaming in the middle of the road for many reasons. But I felt that this woman was definitely distressed and needed help, so I pulled off to the side.
She quickly hopped into my vehicle, crying and thanking me for stopping. She told me she had just been kidnapped and beaten by a man whom she had met up with at the Newton-Wellesley Marriott.
I tried to calm her down by telling her that she was OK. I told her she was safe from the man who had obviously bruised her head, which was swollen but not bleeding.
Still crying, she was shrieking her story to me as I called 911.
As I waited for what seemed like a minute on hold, the woman frenetically said she had come from New York to visit the man who had kidnapped and assaulted her. She said that at some point during the day, the man, an acquaintance of hers, had been involved in some diamond scam.
I still don’t understand the diamond scam, even after hearing the police report on the incident (which was glossed over in the police report, for as a fellow reporter relayed to me, “something didn’t add up”). But the victim said at some point during the day the man had either sold fake diamonds for real diamonds, or sold fake diamonds as real diamonds, possibly in Newton.
She also said the man was using his brother’s name as an alias, which he was later arrested for by police. The woman told me that she asked the suspect to let her go because she didn’t want to engage in any illegal activities, especially after he lit up a crack-laced cigarette.
She told me that he forced her into his vehicle and drove away, but at some point she was able to escape on Route 9 headed toward Boston, where I found her stranded.
After 10 rings or so, the 911 operator finally answered. I couldn’t really hear because the woman was so frantic and shrieking. I told the operator that I had just picked up a kidnapping victim on Route 9 and that I needed to talk to the Wellesley Police. The operator said he couldn’t find the Wellesley Police or what state Wellesley was in!
I told him, with a couple of expletives peppered in, that Wellesley was in Massachusetts, even spelling it for him. He told me that he was in New York (my cell phone has a 617 area code), and he could not locate Wellesley!
I hung up and figured I was only a minute or two from the Wellesley police station anyway.
I asked the woman her name, which was Renee. I told her that my mom’s name is Renee, too, and that things always work out for my mom and that her situation would also work out well.
Renee continued to ask me to flag down a state trooper as one flew by while we were en route to the police station.
I told her I was taking her to the Wellesley police station and that they would help her and eventually take her back to the hotel to get her belongings. She continued to look for her money, a $100 and $10 bill.
We finally arrived at the police station and hurried into the station. Renee frantically talked to the police officers behind the Plexiglas greeting area as I waved them out to talk with her, which they did.
She explained her whole story to a couple of officers. One of the officers told her that they had already caught the man who had assaulted her. I believe the man was caught because people saw her struggling with him at the hotel, and the officer also told me they had received numerous calls about an assault on the side of Route 9.
I then asked an officer to come outside with me as I gave him my name and address. I told him my side of the story, inferring that I doubted the validity of her story. I also asked the officer to stand by as I searched my car for any of the woman’s possessions. I found nothing.
I went back into the station to say goodbye to Renee. She thanked me again, asking me if I needed gas money, which I just smiled at. I told her that she was in good hands with the Wellesley police because I’ve worked with them when I was a reporter in Wellesley.
I then headed out and called my girlfriend to let her know that I had a very good reason for being late this time.
As I drove down Route 9 toward Boston again, I saw the car of the suspect with two state troopers around it.
I later learned that the suspect was charged with assault and battery, driving with a suspended license, providing a false name to police and a previous warrant for larceny.
I drove home very proud of myself. Proud because no matter what the story was, whether Renee was telling the truth, the half-truth or any other side, I had done a good deed. I had helped a person in desperate need of help. And I was finally able to get my superhero career off the ground and running.
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