Public transit can be a terrifying place sometimes, especially when something awful is happening in front of a bus, train, or trolley full of people too busy trying to avoid making eye contact to leap into action. It's a good thing, then, that five disabled homeless men didn't have any such confrontational qualms about wrestling a convicted sex offender down after he allegedly assaulted a 15-year-old girl.

Modesto police say that Kevin Long, a convicted sex offender who's been in and out of prison since 1995, attacked a 15-year-old girl on her way to school after making lewd gestures and generally being the kind of nightmarish person you hope never to meet on your daily commute. Things would have gotten pretty bad if Curtis Mitchell hadn't been keeping a wary eye on Long. After Long allegedly asked the girl, "Have you had sex yet?" Mitchell says Long "lunged out of his seat and grabbed [the girl's] crotch area."

That's when Mitchell and his four disabled, homeless friends (who, since it's a small, small world after all, were staying at the same shelter as Long), wrestled Long down and held him down for three blocks until the bus could meet up with police. Mitchell, with charismatic humbleness, said, "I'm not no hero. I'm a regular person. I have kids, grown up now, but I would hope someone would help my kids if they needed it." You know, because sometimes strangers on trains, buses, or trolleys can be terrifying.


Homeless Men Save Teen From Sex Offender's Alleged Attack [CBS Sacramento]