Who among us has not fantasized about being that woman? The badass avenger who brutally — even savagely, if necessary — takes down that gnarly, obnoxious guy who invades your space and brazenly tries to take liberties with your body?

Emelia Holden got to live out all of our dreams.

For the 21-year old waitress and college student, it happened in a coffee shop, although some of us might have had a similar experience at school or on an escalator, or at the local mall.

Holden was on the job at the Vinnie Van Go-Go’s pizza restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, working her regular shift. She had just finished taking an order when she felt her backside being squeezed by a male patron as he passed behind her.


The restaurant’s surveillance footage captured the moment, and since has gone viral — not because of the butt-grab, but because of what happened next.

According to news reports, no sooner had Ryan Cherwinski, 31, released Holden’s butt cheek than she grabbed him by the shirt collar and slammed him into a counter. He then fell to the ground and remained there, looking somewhat dazed.

GA waitress Emelia Holden is seen on camera being sexually violated by 31 yr old Ryan Cherwinksi. Holden slammed him into a chair She told said “I just did what I felt was best, I took the guy down and had my co-workers call the police.”

Cherwinksi was charged w/ sexual battery. pic.twitter.com/szGx25zgXr — Atlanta Black Star (@ATLBlackStar) July 19, 2018

“I looked at him and I said, ‘You don’t touch me, motherf__!’ ” Holden told People magazine. “I didn’t even think, I just reacted. I don’t know how I reacted the way I did. I’ve never done that before.”


The diminutive Holden, who tips the scales at 115 pounds, said she surprised herself with her strength in taking down her assaulter.

“I didn’t even know I could do that!” she told People recounting the incident that occurred late last month.

“When I felt that happen, my first thought was that it was one of my friends … it was a really intimate touch,” she says. “His hand went further than it should have so I was thinking, ‘There’s no way a stranger just did that.’ ” she told the magazine,

News reports said Cherwinksi was arrested at the restaurant a short time later, in front of his wife and two kids. CBS reported that he was charged with misdemeanor count of sexual battery.

“To see them put him in handcuffs — that was nice,” Holden told Inside Edition.