Woman Finds Man Who Defended Her From Harassment With Viral Campaign

A woman’s social media campaign to find the stranger who defended her after she was groped on a bus has ended in success.

Kaitlyn Regehr, a Phd student in London, posted the story of her assault last Wednesday on Facebook along with an image of her holding a card that said “thank you.”

She wrote: “Thank you for saying something when that man grabbed me. Thank you for insisting that it was not acceptable. Most of all, thank you for asking him about the women in his life, his mother, his sister… You said, “She could be your sister. She is someone’s sister”, and in doing so you made me a person. You made us a community.”

Regehr search for the “tall, dark, and dapper” went viral, garnering over 100,000 likes and 80,000 shares. It also culminated in her getting to thank the good samaritan, Firat Ozcelik, in the flesh. She wrote about their meeting in a second post.

She added: “Last night, I got to meet and thank this Good Samaritan and all round awesome dude – Firat!”

Regehr wrote of the last week’s experience going far beyond the events that happened on the London bus, prompting others to share their own stories with her.

“In this way, the post went far beyond one person speaking out for another in the microcosm of a 207 bus towards Acton. It became an international and intersectional discussion. For that, Firat and I agreed, we are both very thankful” wrote Regehr.