( CNN ) -- Two people yell and struggle on a city street . It happens every day . And when it does , what do you do ? Dwayne Fletcher found himself thrust into this position around 9:40 p.m. Sunday , as he was walking in Philadelphia 's Germantown-Penn Knox neighborhood . He saw a man seemingly manhandling a woman , then forcing her into a car . Fletcher said he yelled out and called police . The car sped away . But three days later , the two -- Carlesha Freeland-Gaither and the man police say abducted her , Delvin Barnes -- were tracked down 115 miles southwest in Jessup , Maryland . The fact that they were found then and there , police say , is largely thanks to Fletcher . `` This man is a hero , '' Philadelphia police Detective James Sloan said . Abducted woman found alive , suspect arrested . Fletcher did n't stop the alleged abduction , nor did he have enough information to name either the suspect or the victim . But he did pay attention , he immediately contacted authorities , and he told them everything he knew -- something that does n't always happen , even when crimes take place in full public view . One of the most cited examples of the latter happened in 1964 in New York City . That 's where Kitty Genovese struggled with her attacker on the street and in her building , shrieking for help as she was raped , robbed and murdered . According to The New York Times , at least 38 people `` watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks '' over a more than half-hour period . None of them intervened . And only one called police , though only after Genovese was dead . This , of course , is n't the only case of what psychologists and social scientists call the bystander effect or Genovese syndrome , as named after the slain New York woman . Gang rape raises questions about bystanders ' role . In 2009 , for instance , about 10 people watched a 2Â½-hour-long gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside a Northern California high school 's homecoming dance . And two years later , residents of southern China 's Guangdong Province found themselves on the defensive after video came out showing passersby ignoring a toddler getting hit twice by vehicles . Outrage in China after toddler run over , ignored . That 's not what happened this week in Philadelphia . Rather , Fletcher told CNN affiliate KYW that when he saw the struggle , `` I called the cops and I 'm running and ( yelling ) , 'Yo , yo , what 's going on ? ' `` Fletcher said that he saw the woman forcibly pulled into the car , then saw her attacker get into the same vehicle . `` They were in the car for like 15 seconds . Then you just hear , like , a tap , tap on the window , and then the window come out , '' he told KYW , referring to how Freeland-Gaither managed to kick out one of the car 's windows but not escape . After that , Fletcher said , `` I jumped back . I moved back , I did n't know what was going on . I did n't know if it was gunshots or whatever . '' The witness called police twice and waited for officers to arrive , Sloan said . Before Philly abduction , suspect allegedly raped , burned girl in Virginia . And what if Fletcher had n't ? What if he 'd walked away and never alerted authorities , spurring them to check that area right away for surveillance video ? What if , because of that , they 'd never gotten a description of the suspect and the getaway car ? What if they 'd never recovered Freeland-Gaither 's cell phone , which police believe she dropped deliberately , hoping it 'd lead to her recovery ? After all , there are too many examples of abductions that do n't end , as this one did , with the safe recovery of the victim and arrest of a suspect . Thanks to Fletcher , authorities do n't have to answer any of these questions . While a great deal went into the investigation -- from several key surveillance videos , to tips , to the GPS device that a car dealer , worried about Barnes ' bad credit , placed on the alleged getaway vehicle -- it all started with Fletcher . `` If it was n't for him , '' Sloan said , `` I do n't think we would have had the same outcome . '' Fletcher , who KYW reports works at a local recycling center , certainly is glad for that and happy to be called a hero . `` It feels good ; I would n't change it for nothing , '' he said . `` ... But tomorrow 's another day . I got to go to work . It 's back to being Dwayne . ''
Dwayne Fletcher saw a man force a woman into a car in Philadelphia . He called and waited for police ; a detective now describes him as `` a hero '' `` I do n't think we would have had the same outcome '' if not for Fletcher , police say .