Man finds support after getting accused of being creepy for helping minor walking alone at night

Walking home alone at night can be a terrifying experience for a young woman, and even well-meaning offers of help can feel suspicious. Those who step in to assist—especially when minors are involved—often face society’s judgment. u/StupendousFisher reposted one such story from the now-deleted Reddit account of u/Western-Tale-508 that detailed a strange situation. "I was driving home from work at 11 pm when I saw a girl walking alone. We aren't in a particularly safe area to be out at night like that, so I offered her a ride and I drove her home, which would have taken her a while to walk," the man mentioned in his Reddit post.

The girl told him she was at a party and that her ride left without her. Although she spent a while looking for a ride, nobody she knew was sober enough or was able to drive. Later, he dropped the minor off at her home safely and returned to his own place. His wife questioned what took him so long. "I explained everything and she said it was wrong and creepy to offer a girl her age a ride and that I shouldn't have done it. I personally don't think it's wrong and with how dangerous our area is, I think it's better that she had a safe way home rather than potentially getting hurt while walking or being picked up by someone with bad intentions," the post concluded.

The man later made an edit to the original post, writing about how he knew there were risks of him getting his reputation destroyed, but he was willing to take the risk and protect the girl from people who might mean harm to her. The man also talked to Newsweek and gave his account of the story. "It was mainly because a young girl walking alone at night is a dangerous thing to be doing in that part of town. We have a lot of crime; plenty of people getting robbed, attacked; and unfortunately, a few deaths not long ago," the 34-year-old man told the outlet. The man who worked as a meat department manager at a local store just wanted to help the minor girl with pure intentions.

Most Reddit users sided with him after going through the whole story and left supportive comments. u/downlau recalled, "It is weird when it happens. I was in my 20s and walking home from a train late at night when some guy pulled over and offered me a ride, saying he knew where I lived. It was very unsettling, but in the end, I figured if he wanted to do anything nefarious to me, he could do it anyway, even if I didn't volunteer to get in the car, so I just accepted the ride. He was just being nice and it was fine in the end and saved me a cold walk in the snow with a big bag."

u/meltbananarama mentioned, "It's one thing to argue that no man should risk his reputation giving a teenage girl a ride home (which I agree with) but to say it's wrong is just wrong. If not morally required, it’s at least supererogatory—well above and beyond the call of our moral duties. Personally, I’d never do it because I value my reputation more than the life of a stranger, but he shouldn’t regret what he did." u/TammyMeatToy added, "I definitely would not have. I would have offered to call someone for her or the police if she didn't have anyone to call."