Update: The alleged attempted rapist has been charged with two felonies, according to The New York Times.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday that Michael Hsu, 24, had been charged with administering a drug and assault with intent to commit a sex crime. His recommended bail is set at $1 million and he faces a maximum of six years in state prison if convicted.
This story was originally published on May 28, 2016.
This story was originally published on May 28, 2016.
It's a harrowing story straight out of a hidden camera show like ABC's What Would You Do? The problem is that this set-up was all too real.
Three friends, Sonia Ulrich, Marla Saltzer, and Monica Kenyon, were at happy hour at a restaurant in Santa Monica, CA, when Monica noticed something terrible. A man and woman were sharing a bottle of wine and Monica saw the man slip something into the woman's drink. The three women were unsure of what to do, but only for a second. Ulrich, Saltzer, and Kenyon decided to step up and step in. They warned the woman and notified the restaurant.
Ulrich recounted the whole incident on her Facebook page, including this awesome Charlie's Angels-inspired photo.
Here's how their hero moment went down, according to the Facebook post.
Ulrich followed the woman to the bathroom and told her about the drink. The woman was understandably shocked. "Yeah, my girlfriend said she saw him put something in your drink and we had to say something. Woman to woman...you know. We had to say something. How well do you know that guy?" Ulrich writes.
The scary part was that this wasn't a first date and it wasn't someone that the woman hardly knew or was only meeting for the first time. This was, according to what she told Ulrich, a friend she had known for over a year.
What could have been a tragic evening ended up with the police showing up and the man in question going away quietly, according to Ulrich's account. There's no official police report available. The post has been shared over 42,000 times.
After he was gone, Ulrich writes that different groups of people in the restaurant kept stopping by to thank the three women.
They heard the same thing over and over again, as women told them, "It happened to me..."
Ulrich closes the post with advice to everyone who reads the story: "And thank you in advance to everyone who sees this and shares this and reminds each other that yes, you SHOULD say something. Even if it's awkward or weird or just uncertain if anything can be done. Know that YOU did something. And that it helped."
Here's to Ulrich, Saltzer, and Kenyon for not looking the other way. This is a great reminder to watch your drinks, your girlfriends' drinks, and the drinks of every girl in the restaurant.