2 good Samaritans rescue woman from sexual assault at Florida beach, police say

Two men are being hailed as heroes after they chased off a man who was allegedly sexually assaulting a woman on a beach in Florida, police say.

The two men, Chris Kersey and Paul Alterio, were sleeping at a hotel in Gulfport Beach when they were alerted by one of their wives to screaming coming from the direction of the beach at about 3:25 a.m.

They rushed out to find what appeared to be a man sexually assaulting a woman.

“We heard the screaming immediately; we both took off, at which we seen the gentleman actually standing up, pulling his pants up at the time and start running,” said Alterio.

The two chased him away and attended to the woman after calling police.

Kersey said they had a difficult time understanding the woman, but he believes that it was because the suspect had allegedly choked her so hard she was losing consciousness.

"I think he had her in such a tight hold that he cut her oxygen off, and it made her delirious,” he said.

Sergeant Jesse Kellington of the Gulfport Police Department told WFLA-TV that police were able to find the man a few blocks away, and they arrested him within 10 minutes of being alerted.

The 47-year-old woman said that she had been relaxing at a pavilion on the beach while her friend was fishing nearby when she was approached by a man, according to police. The man allegedly spoke to her and then grabbed her after she tried to walk away. He told her he was going to have sex with her and covered her mouth with his hand while pushing her down onto the ground near tennis ball courts at the Gulfport Casino.

Police identified the man as 24-year-old Christopher Williams and charged him with attempted sexual battery. He was held on $500,000 bail.

The victim said she did not know the man before the alleged assault.

Kellington praised the two men for jumping in to help the woman.

“The fact that they ran into that not knowing if the suspect was armed or if they were putting themselves at risk because somebody was in desperate need of help," he said. "My hats off to them."

The two said they were glad to help.

“Definitely proud that we were able to stop that situation," said Alterio.

"I have two daughters, and if my daughters were in that situation, I would want someone to do the same thing,” added Kersey.

Here's a news report about the incident:

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