EXCLUSIVE: Good Samaritan helps stop sexual assault in Sunnyvale

SUN VALLEY, Calif. (KGO) -- A Sunnyvale man is being called a hero after he stopped a sexual assault in progress.

It happened during the day on Thursday at 4 p.m. in a busy crosswalk at the intersection of Sunnyvale and Evelyn avenues. "It was about here where we heard the girls screams," Bryan Reeve said.

Reeve and his girlfriend were about to get a massage when screams for help stopped them in their path.

Then, Reeve sprang into action as cars and other people went by. "I scanned the guy real briefly for weapons," Reeve said.

Reeve says he pulled Huylam Nguyen, 34, off a petite woman as he was thrusting himself on her. "About here is where I stuck my foot out, I tripped him over me and he fell on his back," he said.

Reeve says he pinned him down until police arrived. "I do security, so it's kind of second nature to me," he said.

"That's very heroic and courageous for someone to make that decision, but sometimes the consequences may not be the best and in this circumstance it worked out for the best," Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Public Information Officer Shawn Ahearn said.

"I asked him had he done this before and he said that he had and that he had gotten away with it," Reeve said.

"With that information we've looked at other cases on our file and reached out to other departments and right now we can't find anything that matches," Ahearn said.

The Santa Clary County District Attorney's Office says Nguyen is charged with felony false imprisonment, misdemeanor battery with an allegation and it was done with sexual intent and assault with intent to commit a felony. That felony being rape. He's being held on $65,000 bail.

He was charged Friday, August 5 and arraigned on Monday, August 8 by the district attorney's office.

"The family did mention that there is a possibility of a history of mental illness," Ahearn said.

"Hopefully he gets the help that he needs," Reeve said.

Reeve says he'd do it again if it happened today.

Nguyen is due back in court on August 30, 2016.