ARVADA, Colo. — Ever since a woman’s decision to intervene in a mugging a month ago, the victim and his family have wanted to say thank you. Denver7 made that possible.
The story starts with Luke Duran walking home from the bus stop on Sheridan Boulevard in Arvada around midnight in late January. A car pulled up, and two men got out.
“One of them came running up behind me, and before I could even react he started hitting me on the head with the back of the gun,” he said.
The two attackers robbed him and kicked him, preparing for something even worse.
“They had just aimed the guns at my head and squared them. And I was getting ready for the gun to go off,” Duran said through tears. “And that’s when I saw the lights hit them.”
A woman driving home down Sheridan spotted the man and decided to pull a U-turn.
“And she either shone her headlights or flashed her headlights on what was happening,” Duran’s mother Rachel Duvack said.
The attackers took off.
“She’s a hero. She saved my life,” Duran said.
“She does seem like an angel, and that’s what I call her,” his mother added.
Denver7 tracked down that Good Samaritan. She just wanted to be called Sue.
“I was raised that if you see someone in trouble, you help them. You don’t just drive by and do nothing,” she said.
She says she had no idea that attackers had a gun, but that she only knew someone was being beaten up.
“I had no choice but to intervene,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe there was someone there at that moment to help me,” Luke said.
He wanted to say thank you. So did his mom. But the two sides hadn’t met in person until today. There were plenty of tears and hugs during that emotional meeting.
“The most important thing is he was saved, and he didn’t die that night, and he’s here today,” Sue said.
“She’s teaching us all to make the right choice,” Duvack said.
