Police, mayor hand out bravery awards to Good Samaritans

Jacob Landau has a lanky frame, a brown belt in karate and a strong moral compass.

Those first elements, unfortunately, couldn't help the Grade 11 student fend off the six teens who turned on him when stepped in to stop them from harassing a woman on a crowded TTC bus last spring.

"They shoved me, I shoved them back, and had a bit of a tussle," the Toronto teen said. "As great as I'd like to think I am, I can't really take six guys, so I got a bit more of a tussling."

What the teen calls a "tussling," Toronto police describe as a vicious assault. And they recognized Landau for his bravery, alongside 41 other citizens, who had their own stories of being a Good Samaritan, during a ceremony Sunday afternoon.

'It's all right to be afraid'

Landau has recovered from the incident last April — he was thrown to the floor of the bus, punched, kicked and had his cell phone stolen.

"Yeah, I was afraid," he said. "It's a scary thing. But the important thing is that beyond being afraid, there's a certain responsibility when you see someone getting hurt. It's all right to be afraid, but bravery is acting in spite of that fear, not without it."

The teen went home and identified his attackers using his high school yearbook. All were arrested within a day of assaulting Landau and the woman for whom he intervened.

"I didn't particularly surprise myself," the Grade 11 student said. "But I was proud of myself for acting with the convictions I like to say I have."

Veronica Giannantonio said she felt much the same way about her own recognition. The Toronto woman said that she tries to help people in other aspects of her life. So when she saw her teenage neighbour stuck in a smoking car in the wee hours of Feb. 14, instinct took over.

Car in flames

Dimitri Sipidias remembers that he couldn't see when Giannantonio started banging on the car window; he had lost his glasses in the crash and blood was running into his eyes. He could hear her telling him to unlock the door, but he said he was in such pain that it was a struggle.

"Once I saw that the vehicle had burst into flames, the engine, that's where I started to get a little desperate," Giannantonio said. "Panic just set in and I had to get him out as quickly as possible."

She managed to pull him from the car and settled him in her own until the paramedics arrived. The car was completely engulfed within minutes, she said.

The pair bonded over the rescue, with Sipidias's family coming out to see Giannantonio accept her award Sunday.

"She's like an older sister to me now," the teen said.

Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said that he hopes others hear these stories and follow their example — as long as it's safe to do so.

"Hopefully what it does is it has that cascading effect."