[symple_googlemap title=”Palmdale rescue mentally-challenged woman” location=”5th Street East, Palmdale, CA” height=”300″ zoom=”16″]
A mentally-challenged woman who was seen running down the middle of a street in Palmdale carrying a stuffed teddy bear was rescued from the danger by a driver who coaxed the woman into his car until sheriff’s deputies arrived.
The woman was spotted about 10:15 p.m. Friday, running down the middle of 25th Street East in Palmdale, according to the sheriff’s department.
“A Good Samaritan that was driving by, stopped and coaxed her to sit inside his car until deputies arrived at the scene,” sheriff’s Lt. Brian Dunn said Saturday morning. “It was good that he did that because it could have turned out very bad, otherwise.”
The Samaritan was identified as George Ossa by a video news reporter at the scene. He told the reporter he used an offer of food to get her out of the street and inside his car.
Dunn said his deputies told him the woman appeared very scared and confused. It took deputies and paramedics about 20 minutes, he said, to convince her to get out of Ossa’s car, still holding her teddy bear.
The unidentified woman was taken to a hospital for a checkup by paramedics. Dunn said he didn’t know how she got to that street or where she came from. However, three family members later came to the hospital to take her home, he said.
—City News Service