‘Friends for life’: Woman finds good Samaritan who chased off thieves and saved her stolen packages
By Taylor Epps
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (WMAR) — Mystery solved in West Baltimore. A West Baltimore woman searching for the good Samaritan who rescued her stolen packages has found him and formed an immediate bond.
D. FitzGerald Smith, known by friends as Chip, wasn’t feeling well, so he went out for an early morning walk around 5 a.m. Sunday, when he spotted two people breaking into cars in his neighborhood.
“I see these individuals; they don’t see me. They actually go inside of a white SUV, and they took boxes out. At that point, they began to run, so I’m now yelling at them,” Smith said.
The thieves dropped the packages. Smith looked at the address on them and rang the doorbell at Cruz’s home, but she was asleep.
“I’m determined that this woman is going to get her packages back, I said ‘I’m not going to leave them here, I’m gonna pick them up and put them on her doorstep,'” Smith said. “To me, what I did is normal; this is not out of the ordinary for a man to do.”
Smith said it is simply how he was raised, and he was hesitant when people began calling him a hero. He eventually dropped a note in Cruz’s mailbox, and the two connected by phone.
That is when he learned the packages contained items the community had raised money to buy to improve a green space in the neighborhood.
When the two finally met in person, Cruz was overcome with emotion.
“You really, really came through, and I have to say, it’s really hard living here,” said Cruz. “Things like this really crush your spirit and chip at your happiness, but when you meet people like you, it brings back some faith in people.”
She gave him fresh sunflowers and a card to mark the occasion.
Cruz is not from Baltimore. She moved to the area because she heard there were good people here. Smith reminded her that there are. Now she knows he’s just a few blocks away.
“That’s it, we’re friends for life,” Cruz said. “I feel safer, I do. I met Chip, I’m good now.”
“And you are now, as I say, you are my sister,” Smith said.
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