A woman has come forward to say that the late actor James Ransone saved her from a sexual assault. Ransone, best known for his role as Ziggy Sobotka in HBO's The Wire, died aged 46 by suicide, as ruled by the Los Angeles Medical Examiner.
In an Instagram post, user Molly Watts (@mollyxxwatts) described being attacked at the threshold of her New York apartment building. She wrote: 'I was attacked at the threshold of our building. I screamed for help. No one came. My attacker put his hands around my throat so I would stop making noise.' Watts said she could not breathe and feared she would die or be raped.
Watts continued: 'PJ [Ransone] heard my screams and ran to help. He came running shirtless, carrying a bat or pipe — I'm not sure which, because I never saw him in action. He scared my attacker, who ran. PJ chased him to the building he fled to. Because of the chase, the police were able to identify him, a repeat sexual offender.'
Ransone and Watts were neighbours in Chinatown at the time, and she expressed regret for not thanking him sooner. Her post included a link to a GoFundMe page set up for Ransone's family. Ransone had previously recounted the incident on SiriusXM's Jim and Sam Show in 2016, saying he 'stopped a rape' in 2006. He described hearing screams, chasing the attacker, and later testifying in court against him.
