UAE student saves robbed, injured woman in US

A 21-year-old Emirati student on a scholarship in the United States saved a young woman knocked down by a car and robbed on the spot when most other passers-by walked away, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Khalifa Al Maamari was with his friend in the car and had just stopped at a red signal at a key junction in Tennessee state when the woman was run over by a car as she tried to cross the road. The driver who knocked her down came later and snatched her bag before disappearing into the nearby alleys.

Quoted by Dubai-based ‘Emarat Al Youm’ daily, Maamari said he instantly jumped the red signal and stopped his car in the middle of the road to prevent other cars from banging into the woman who lay in a serious condition on that road.

“Most passers-by had walked away as they apparently did not want to be involved…when the other drivers and some pedestrians saw me doing this, they were encouraged and came to help,” he said.

“One of them called the police and ambulance, which rushed the woman to hospital…I then guided the police to where the thief ran…they went after him and I learned later that he was caught while the woman was getting better.”

Maamari said he was taken to the police station to give a statement, adding that he was thanked by the police for his ‘brave behaviour’.

“I was a bit scared when I behaved this way at a time when most others ran away…but I was brought up in the UAE and I behaved as if I was in the UAE…I am sure that if this happens again, I will behave the same way,” he said.

The paper quoted a senior police officer in Dubai as commending Maamari’s action on the grounds that he helped save the woman’s life.

“The behaviour of Maamari and his friend is perfect…if they had not interfered, that criminal would have got away with it and the woman possibly died,” said Major-General Khalil Al Mansouri, Assistant Police Commander for Criminal Investigation.
 

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