Chanel Millerhas no memory of being sexually assaulted, but she’ll always remember the men who stopped the attack.
Miller was unconscious on Jan. 18, 2015, when Stanford University freshmanBrock Turnerattacked her outside a fraternity party. While the crime was in progress, Peter Jonsson and Carl-Fredrik Arndt, two grad students from Sweden, happened upon the scene on their bikes. When Turner tried to flee, the men tackled him and restrained him until police arrived.
In early September, the same monthshe publicly revealed her name, Miller met the two men while filming a segment for CBS’60 Minutes.
“The night when the worst thing happened to me was the same night something miraculous happened,” she tells PEOPLE, describing the students’ heroism.
“They’re so sweet,” Miller adds. “And when60 Minutesasked them how it felt to meet me, they said it was like meeting family, which was extremely touching.”
Courtesy Chanel Miller
Miller says that unbeknownst to her, Jonsson and Arndt showed up throughout the protracted court case.
Chanel Miller.Bethany Mollenkof
She adds, “When I look back at these memories, I feel cold and isolated, [but] I learn that they were never that far away, and it adds this layer of warmth to everything.”
Before Turner’s sentencing, Miller read a powerful letter to him that was widely praised as a critique of rape culture and is seen as a precursor to the #MeToo movement.
Prosecutors asked for Turner to spend six years behind bars and Miller was confident he would serve at least two years. But Judge Aaron Persky sentenced him to just six months, citing the “severe impact”a long sentence would have on him. He was released after three months.
The lenient sentence was profoundly disillusioning for Miller. But alongside her disappointment, she has kept in mind the inspiring example of Jonsson and Arndt.
“I can’t tell the bad half of the story without telling the wonderful part of the story,” she says.
To remind herself of what they did, Miller keeps a drawing of two bicycles. Those drawings, she says, are “solid proof, like a concrete image that I could hold onto reminding me there will always be good in the world. There are people who are trying to help you, people who want to do the right thing.”
source: people.com
