DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - A good Samaritan was honored after stopping an attack on a little girl at Gwen Cherry Park in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Cheryl Donaldson was recognized and awarded by Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz at Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office in Doral, Thursday, for running after the attacker of an 11-year-old, back in July.
Donaldson, a parent and military veteran, was with her daughter at Gwen Cherry Park when she walked into the bathroom, noticed that a stall was not closed, and, upon getting closer, saw an 11-year-old girl on the ground and next to her was a man.
“It didn’t feel right, so that’s why I walked inside and saw what happened and was able to make those actions,” said Donaldson.
She said she then realized that the little girl had been sexually assaulted, and chased after 18-year-old Antwan Johnson, screaming to people in the park, “get him, he just raped a girl.”
“There wasn’t a hesitation, It was [a] bad guy. It was one of those things to where it was like, I was where I was supposed to be,” she said when asked why she ran after him.
She says she does not feel like a hero, and that she was just being a parent.
“I got to get him, that’s pretty much it, it is, I need to get him, I need to make sure that she’s safe,” said Donaldson. “I feel like a parent protecting a child.”
Her quick thinking led to Johnson being taken down and then later taken into custody by MDSO deputies.
Authorities say Johnson took advantage of the girl while she was on a bathroom break during summer camp.
According to the arrest report, Johnson “followed her into the bathroom, grabbed her, and moved her from the sink… area to the last stall in the bathroom. The defendant covered the victim’s mouth (causing a cut on the victims lip which made her bleed), choked her.”
Johnson remains behind bars facing several charges, including sexual battery on a minor.
Donaldson said she’s just glad the little girl is now safe.
“There’s so many possibilities of what the ‘would have, could haves’ could’ve been for that scenario,” she said.
The 11-year-old’s family was in attendance at the ceremony, but has asked for privacy.
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