Duane James saved Melissa A. Valles from assault, New Bedford, Massachusetts, May 19, 2000. Ms. Valles, 39, was exiting her car in the parking lot of a drugstore when a man armed with two knives approached, threw himself into the car across her, and, threatening her life, attempted to rob her. Ms. Valles struggled against the man. Driving nearby, James, 35, saw the assault. He stopped at the scene and, although he was disabled by chronic leg pain, ran to Ms. Valles’s car, where he struggled with the assailant. The assailant dropped one of his knives at the scene, then fled on foot. James chased him and caught him at a point about 800 feet away, then held him for police, who arrived shortly.
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