Left inset: Billy Grooms (WXIX/YouTube). Right inset: Javen Meadows (Highland County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Ohio gas station where cops say Javen Meadows attacked and strangled a woman before running over Billy Grooms after he stepped in to stop him (WXIX/YouTube).
An Ohio father of two was run over and fatally dragged in front of his son after saving a woman from being strangled by her ex-boyfriend at a gas station, cops and family say.
"He went to intervene and asked the boy to let her go, and in turn, the boy jumped in his truck and ran Billy over," says Angela Osborn, sister-in-law of victim Billy Grooms, who later died at the hospital after being placed on life support, local Fox affiliate WXIX reports.
"We're still trying to wrap our mind around the fact his life is gone for saving a young girl who was being strangled," Osborn tells WXIX.
Javen Meadows, 22, has been charged with strangulation and assault in connection with the May 31 confrontation in Hillsboro. Meadows allegedly followed his ex-girlfriend to a Holtfield gas station on South High Street and then attacked her after ramming the woman's vehicle, WXIX reports, citing court documents.
Police say Meadows went over to his ex's vehicle and grabbed her by the throat, strangled the woman, and threw her to the ground. He was allegedly kicking and punching her when Grooms intervened.
"I believe Billy was a hero," the ex-girlfriend said in a statement. "I believe his actions saved my life," the woman added. "I'll carry that gratitude with me forever."
Grooms was with his son when he went over to Meadows during the attack and got him off the woman, police and family say.
"That's who Billy was," Amy Grooms, Billy Grooms' wife, tells WXIX. "He wasn't a very social person, but the people that knew Billy knew he was compassionate; he cared."
Meadows allegedly hopped in his Ford F-150 pickup truck after Grooms stepped in to intervene and ran Grooms over. "He just went straight towards my husband and hit him and dragged him," Amy Grooms says.
Grooms suffered multiple broken bones and a severe brain injury. He was airlifted to a local hospital and placed on life support; his family removed him last week.
"We were trying for hope," Amy Grooms says. "If we could try to intervene to stop the swelling, but then within days, he was declining."
Grooms' lifesaving efforts didn't end at the gas station: He donated his organs to at least five people following his death, WXIX reports.
"If he would have lived through this, I would have said, 'I love you, babe and you did what was right and what your heart wanted,'" Amy Grooms says. "He would have stepped in for anybody."
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