Alaine Gill helped to rescue a woman and her son from assault, Norco, California, February 10, 1996. A 32-year-old woman and her two young sons were kidnapped by a man who, armed with a knife, forced the woman to drive her car at high speeds over a course of several miles. Threatened and assaulted by the man as she drove, the woman purposely crashed her car in an attempt to end the attack. However, the assailant grasped the woman and one of her sons, 6, and dragged them away from the car, the woman screaming for help. A motorist, Ms. Gill, 34, homemaker, accompanied by her two children, was then approaching the scene. Seeing the assault, she drove to a point opposite the assailant and his victims, then stopped her car and opened a back door to provide the victims a means of escape. The assailant forced the woman and her son into the car, then, still armed with the knife, demanded of Ms. Gill to be driven away. Refusing him, Ms. Gill turned, grasped the knife, and struggled against the assailant. Several others who witnessed the assault also responded, and they removed the assailant from the car and subdued him. The woman and her son received hospital treatment for injury sustained during their ordeal, as did Ms. Gill and one of her children. Ms. Gill sustained a bite wound and a cut, from which she recovered.
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