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    ‘I went to help her’
May 25, 2009

‘I went to help her’

Frank Presley quick to act when he sees assault in progress

By John Veasey

FAIRMONT — (Editor’s note: This is another in a series of features on Marion County’s “Everyday Heroes.”)

Most Marion Countians remember the gentleman who got into a real scuffle last week with a much larger man who was charged with beating up a woman companion.

“I was just sitting in my car, watching the river and feeding some ducks and relaxing,” said the man, who was later identified as Frank Presley. “I saw this man walking up and down Water Street — stumbling in and out of traffic. I decided to call the police because of that situation.

“Then I heard him yelling at the woman. Eventually he walked back over to where she was. They both just sat there. Then I heard someone yelling and a horn blowing. Another nursing student had come to the scene.”

Presley said that by this time the other man, identified as David C. Prince of Clarksburg, had the woman down and was beating her head on the ground.

“I jumped out of the car,” Presley said. “By the time I got to where he was, he was standing over her and punching her in the face.”

He attacked me

“Then he came after me and he attacked me,” Presley added. “I pretty much was defending myself while attempting to stay between the two of them.

“I ended up tackling him and going to the ground. After we had gone to the ground, a couple guys from the skate park came over, and one of them did his best trying to hold him on the ground.

“By this time 911 had been called. Everybody came running toward us.”

He said the police initially put both men in handcuffs, but after he was able to tell his story, his cuffs were removed.

“They put us both in handcuffs because they didn’t know what was going on. After I explained who I was (they were removed),” Presley said, “I went to help her. I continued to provide care for a short period of time until the Rescue Squad arrived.”

As for Prince, Presley says he had “never seen the guy before in my life. He was a lot bigger and taller than I was.”

They flew her to Morgantown, and Presley was checked out at Fairmont General.

“I just had some bumps and bruises,” he said.

For what he did to attempt to stop Prince from an assault on the woman, Frank Presley has been selected as Marion County’s “Everyday Hero.”



Nice way to start

This all happened two weeks ago Wednesday — just before Presley’s graduation from Fairmont State University.

He earned his degree in nursing, and now he’s looking for a job.

“I had an interview Wednesday,” he said. “We’ll see how that pans out.”

Presley was born and raised here in Fairmont. He graduated from Fairmont Senior High School in 1989.

Since then he has worked as an EMT and a paramedic and has done “quite a few sales jobs.

He and his wife Barbara have two children. Brian is 5 and Bria is 2. His parents, Edward and Verna Presley, formerly lived in Fairmont but now live in Brave, Pa.

“This was a nice way to start off graduation week,” he says. “Let’s put it that way.”

E-mail John Veasey at jcveasey@timeswv.com.

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