‘It’s something I would do again and again’: Man shares story of saving woman from sexual assault

MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Police Department is calling Billy Vorlander and his work partner heroes after saving a woman during a sexual assault attack Tuesday morning.

Vorlander and a work partner were on a lift at an apartment complex on East Johnson Street when Vorlander looked across the street and saw a man run up to a woman and grope her, run away, come back and grab her again with his pants down.

“It was all very hectic and very fast,” Vorlander said.

Vorlander tells us he jumped out of the lift and started screaming profanities at the assailant. Vorlander’s partner yelled for the woman to run across the street to safety. When the woman was able to flee across the street, Vorlander’s partner took her to safety inside the apartment complex they were working on. Vorlander ended up keeping the assailant at bay as the assailant continued to go after this woman. Vorlander was able to stop a police officer driving past them.

“Officer drives right down the street, I jump out in front, I point at him and I point at the other guy and that was it,” Vorlander said. “The guy’s pants fall down in the middle of the street and the officer took care of it.”

Madison police arrested 32-year-old Kevin E. Kieren on suspicion of fourth-degree sexual assault, lewd and lascivious behavior and disorderly conduct.

Vorlander said he’s glad the man was caught and that the woman is OK but still is in shock after everything that happened.

“I felt sorrow,” Vorlander said. “It was really sad watching that happen. It was really disturbing. I would never think about that but if someone did that to me as a man, and I couldn’t do anything about it, I would feel so violated.”

Vorlander and his partner were not able to finish the work they had started that day but said he would do it all over again if he had to.

“It’s something I would do again and again and again,” he said.

Vorlander and his partner’s actions have earned them an MPD award nomination.

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