A group of women in Santa Monica, California, have garnered over 44,000 shares on Facebook from their tale of stopping a date rape in progress at the FIG restaurant in the Fairmont Miramar Hotel.

"Monica, Marla, and I were at FIG at the Fairmont for their delicious happy hour ('Fig at 5.' Treat yourself)," one of the women, who goes by the name Sonia Ulrich on Facebook, posted. "I was going on about something and saw Monica staring behind and making a funny face. I stopped. 'What's going on?' After a few second she said 'That guy just put something in her drink.'"

Ulrich wrote she had to "Warn her. Tell her to get up and leave this creep. Make him drink it. Something." So she lingered in the bathroom to meet the woman in question and said her date had dropped an unknown substance into her beverage, only for the woman to say the man who did it was her "best friend."

The women informed the staff of the restaurant as well, triggering an uneasy wait of nearly 45 minutes for the Santa Monica Police Department to arrive.

The poor woman had to sit through 40 more minutes, sitting across from "one of her best friends" knowing that he was trying to drug her. Marla noticed him several times chinking his glass to hers to get her to drink. She played it cool. Mostly, I believed, just stunned. The staff wanted to jump in and dump the glass, dump him, do something! I was going through fantasies of walking up and demanding he drink the tainted glass of wine. Eventually, they finished up dinner. There was a delay getting their bill. "The computer is down" is what the waiter kept saying to him. Then, in walks Santa Monica PD. They say "Come with us" and he doesn't protest. Doesn't ask why. Doesn't seem surprised.

Later, the women said, the head of security at the location told them the restaurant was able to check security footage and locate video evidence of the attempted drugging. Soon after, people from other tables stopped by to thank Ulrich and her friends for intervening, sharing their own stories of similar incidents:

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"It happened to my sister... I'm glad I was there to take her home."

"It happened to my roommate at a producer's party. He's still messed up from it."

"It happened to me. At a backyard barbecue."

"It happened to me. At a bar I worked at."

"Some heroes don't wear capes. Thank you. It happened to me. Thank you."

"Fuck yeah, you guys! You fuckin' rock!"











The incident allegedly happened Thursday night.

No one at FIG Restaurant answered the phone when contacted by Mic. However, Jezebel spoke to a staff member who confirmed the story was true, though they could not comment on the investigation.

The threat of rape is a terrifying reality for many women in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 5 women say they have been raped, and 9.3% report being the victim of a drug or alcohol-facilitated assault; 32.1% report some form of unwanted sexual contact in their lifetime.

Additionally, the West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information & Services says 75% of all rapes are perpetrated by an acquaintance of the victim, rather than a stranger, as seemed to have been the situation at FIG.

"The effects of all drugs are enhanced when taken with alcohol," WVFRS reported. "Victims who have been given alcohol and/or these sedating drugs often do not remember the assault itself and therefore may not immediately report it."

Fortunately, in this case, someone saw something — and said something, as anyone who sees a crime like this in progress should.