What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a group of four teenage boys skateboarding together? More than likely, it isn’t something that is positive and you may think about them getting in some mischief. When four teenage boys in Canada were out skateboarding, they ended up seeing something that was horrifying in their eyes. Rather than simply letting it go, they decided to do something about it and they saved a young girl in the process.
The four teenage boys, Arnaud Nimenya, Carsyn Wright, James Hielema and Starlyn Rives-Perez were in an underground parking lot skateboarding when they saw a 15-year-old girl being escorted by a well-dressed man. The young girl seemed to be in some distress and she was also drunk. They could’ve ignored the situation and continued on with what they were doing but they decided to do something about it. As it turns out, it’s a good thing they did.
Admittedly, it would have been easy for them to simply turn the other direction. After all, the man claimed that he was her ‘father’s friend’. One of the teenagers, Carsyn Wright explained that this way: “She was screaming and yelling. She just wanted to be out of there. She was all scuffed up and dirty.”
That is when the boys started to question the man. When he said that he was her father’s friend and was looking after her, they didn’t know what to say. The girl really didn’t say anything about it or object, so they perhaps wondered if they should just leave well enough alone.
“You don’t want to really think of the worst in somebody like that. You don’t want that situation to be real, so you just brush it off and hope for the best,” Wright continued.
Eventually, the skateboarders decided that they would dig a little deeper. They allowed the two of them to leave the parking lot at first but then they decided to make sure she was okay. It was an excellent idea that they did.
CBS reported that he was sexually assaulting the girl when they caught up with them.
“You walk in, and you see something like that, and you freeze. You don’t know what to do,” Nimenya said.
After they got over the initial shock, they took action. The assailant was trying to run away from the scene when he knew that he was caught and three of the teenagers were chasing after him. One stayed with the young girl.
“He was trying to walk out and walk away from us,” said Nimenya. “He pushed me aggressively out of the way, kinda like just gives me the smile, like, ‘I can do this. You can’t do anything about it.’”
When the teenagers caught up with them, he managed to get one of their skateboards and started swinging it at them. Even though he tried to hit them a number of times, they managed to keep him occupied until the police arrived.
After the police arrested the man, they charged him with sexual assault. They also tried to make contact with the young boys but the boys were afraid that they would be in trouble.
Nimenya explained: “We always thought we were going to be in trouble because we fought with him. When they called us, we didn’t wanna answer.”
The police were eventually able to make contact with them and they received recognition for their bravery.
The four were honored at the Chief’s Awards Gala in Calgary, Canada. It’s nice to know that heroes do exist in the world today and they sometimes prevent horrible things from happening.