A detective recently commended a good Samaritan who stopped a rape in progress the morning after the Kentucky Derby and prevented the man from fleeing in a vehicle that “wasn’t his,” according to a report.
Though the suspect could not escape in the car, he managed to get away on foot following the May 8 attack, WLKY reported. Days later, on May 13, the U.S. Marshal Service apprehended Lamario Averhart, 41, in Indianapolis. He faces a first-degree rape charge and has since been extradited back to Kentucky, where he is being held on a $100,000 bond. Online inmate records show he was booked in Louisville shortly after noon on May 23.
Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) Detective Lindsay Lynch told WLKY that Averhart and the victim first made contact at a bar on May 7, the night of the Kentucky Derby. She said they spent the rest of the night together and ended up at Central Park in Old Louisville early the next morning.
At about 7:00 a.m., Averhart allegedly knocked the fleeing victim to the ground, and Lynch said he subsequently “sexually assaulted her,” according to WLKY. Thankfully, the passerby got between the victim and perpetrator and halted the attack. The good Samaritan took the keys out of the car they had arrived at the park in, preventing the suspect from fleeing in the vehicle, Lynch explained.
“Not only was it crucial, if he would have gotten back in the car, the car wasn’t his,” Lynch told WLKY. “There were so many things we might not have known if he had not intervened.”
After a struggle between the assailant and good Samaritan over the keys, Averhart allegedly fled the area on foot, while the man who stopped him gave chase but ultimately did not catch him.
“We are so thankful that someone at least came to her rescue because she’s at least here to talk about it and I think that’s the main thing she keeps focusing on to get her through this,” Lynch told WLKY.
A circuit court docket shows Averhart is due in court on June 9 at 1:00 p.m.