Two Swedish students are being hailed as heroes for tackling a former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.
Biking across the Stanford University campus after midnight on Jan. 18, 2015, Carl-Fredrik Arndt and Peter Jonsson found 19-year-old Brock Turner lying on top of a woman behind a dumpster, NBC News reported.
The Swedish duo realized the girl was motionless and confronted Turner, who wheeled around and ran, Arndt told NBC News in an interview.
"We saw she wasn't moving at all, so talked to him briefly, then he started running away," Arndt recalled.
Johsson pursued Turner and grabbed him while Arndt rushed to the victim's side. The graduate students were able to subdue Turner until police arrived.
"I think it happened on instinct for us," Arndt told NBC News. "I never thought about it twice and I'm glad I did it."
Turner was sentenced to six months in prison on Thursday, a punishment many decried as too lenient. A petition seeking to remove Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky from the case has garnered more than 566,000 signatures, and the judge has received anonymous threats, NBC News reported.
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The victim — who addressed Turner directly in a powerful 12-page letter read in court — said she's indebted to the men she called her heroes.
"Most importantly, thank you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet. I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another. To have known all of these people, to have felt their protection and love, is something I will never forget," she wrote.
