Disclaimer – I would make Harry Potter comparisons in this post but since every other outlet is going that route, I’m going to break with the pack. I’ve expressed my love for Daniel Radcliffe before. I find him delightful in interviews and he seems gracious without it appearing phony. He doesn’t try to distance himself from the franchise that made him famous, even though he has done a lot of admirable work since. And if I needed any more assurance that my admiration was warranted, he recently came to the aid of a man who’d been mugged. This victim had his face cut and his expensive bag stolen in the attack. I feel really bad for him, which makes me feel worse that when I got to the detail about the assailants riding off on mopeds, the first thing I pictured was a scene out of Benny Hill.

The “Harry Potter” actor came to the aid of a man who was mugged on Friday, The Associated Press reports. 

The 50-something victim was reportedly walking down King’s Road in London’s Chelsea neighborhood, when two knife-wielding moped riders attacked him, slashing his face and stealing his Louis Vuitton bag.

Radcliffe was one of the first responders, tending to the man after the robbery.
Former police officer David Videcette was also on the scene and reportedly tried to apprehend the attackers before the two made an escape through multiple red lights. That’s when he recognized the British actor, who was consoling the victim. 

“It was a bit of the surreal moment, I said, ‘You’re Daniel Radcliffe’ and he replied, ‘I am,’” Videcette recalled to the Evening Standard. “He was a really nice bloke, a lot of stars wouldn’t have stopped to help.”

[From Huffington Post]

I’m imagining that moment when the other guy said, “You’re Daniel Radcliffe,” and Daniel responds, followed by the victim who said, “Yeah, and I’m bleeding!” Nothing but respect for Daniel here, it was the right thing to do and he did it. I once witnessed a bicycler get knocked down while I was across the street at a stoplight. The car that did it was turning and it’s possible they didn’t know they’d clipped a cyclist but they didn’t stop. The first person who got out to help was Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplane/Starship. When I made it to them, we got him off the bike and moved him to a step. Eventually a police car stopped and I left at that point but the only other people that stopped were people asking if she was, in fact, Grace Slick and then moved on.

Videcette is a former police officer who is now a crime writer. I assume he just stopped like Daniel did to help the guy. He is getting so much play on this because he was the one who gave Daniel credit publicly:

And I want to say big thank you to Daniel Radcliffe who stopped to help the guy that had been robbed. Top bloke. Some stars wouldn't have.

— David Videcette (@DavidVidecette) July 14, 2017

I don’t think Daniel was looking for any kind of PR bump but I’m glad Videcette gave him a shout out, mostly because it allows me to continue believing Daniel is a neat guy in real life. If I forget that, I can always ask his Harry Potter costume designer, Jany Temime who is as big a fan as I am. Jany said of Daniel, “Daniel is an incredible kid. He was preparing his exams at school, he was leading a film. He had such a [full plate] and he never complained. He was always so nice to everybody. He’s an incredible person. A really wonderful person.” So see – lovely gentleman. And now I am off to re-watch his episode of Extras which is, in my opinion, a f—king scream.

Photo credit: WENN Photos