Officials Search for Unidentified Good Samaritan Possibly Exposed to Rabies After Saving Girl From Raccoon

UPDATE: Officials found the Good Samaritans and confirmed they were not exposed to rabies. NEW DETAILS HERE.

Officials are searching for an unidentified Good Samaritan who may have been exposed to rabies after saving a girl from a rabid raccoon.

The girl was walking home from school Thursday around 4 p.m. through a wooded area on the Bridlewild Trail near Dodds Lane in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania when a raccoon began to attack her. A man who happened to be driving by at the time stopped his car, ran towards the girl and beat the raccoon with a hockey stick until it let go of the girl’s leg. The man then drove the girl home to her parents but left before anyone could identify him.

The raccoon that attacked the girl was later captured by Lower Merion animal control officers and submitted for testing. On Saturday officials were notified that the animal tested positive for rabies at the State Public Health Laboratory. The young girl who was attacked received rabies shots Thursday night at a local hospital and is currently recovering at home, officials said.

The Montgomery County Health Department is requesting that the Good Samaritan or someone who knows him come forward so that officials can determine whether or not he was exposed to the raccoon’s saliva. They also want to give him rabies shots if an exposure is confirmed.

If you are the Good Samaritan or know who he is, please call the Montgomery County Health Department at 610-278-5117 and follow the after-hours instructions to speak to the On-Call staff. The Good Samaritan is described as a 6-foot-tall white male in his 50s or 60s. He was driving a small tan or bronze SUV.