The Boy Who Lived, Daniel Radcliffe, Helps Injured Muggle Mugging Victim

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Harry Potter has “a bit of a saving-people thing” and so, it seems, does Daniel Radcliffe. The 27 year-old professional wizard slash self-resuscitated-teen-icon-turned-bonafide-artist (we love him) was one of several passersby who rushed to the aid of a mugging victim in London today, according to the Evening Standard.
Pottermore, eat your heart out. This is the real “Harry Potter” sequel we need.
According to David Videcette, a former counter-terrorist for the London police department who called the police after witnessing the crime, two men on mopeds cornered a man on a Chelsea side street, cut his face with a knife, seized his Louis Vuitton handbag, and sped off. A group of people, including Radcliffe, rushed to assist the victim, a man in his fifties, who was in London on vacation. Videcette, calling the interaction “surreal”, turned to the actor and said, “You’re Daniel Radcliffe.” Radcliffe responded, “I am.” The actor’s representatives have confirmed that he was at the scene, but Potter fans needed no clarification—Harry Potter pretty much always shows up where there’s trouble. After all, “Help is always given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”
As amusing and reminiscent of Sirius Black’s famed motorbike as this incident may seem to Americans, moped gangs in London have been responsible for a major wave of recent violence, including one group that has terrorized the city with 103 crime events over the last 18 days. The mugging that Radcliffe witnessed occurred hours after police apprehended that gang.
For now, as JK Rowling might say, all is well.
Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny.
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