Dev Patel helped break up a knife fight in Australia on Monday night.
7News reports the 32-year-old intervened when a physical altercation erupted between a man and woman at a convenience store in Adelaide. The incident resulted in the woman stabbing the man, who is expected to survive. Patel stepped in to de-escalate the situation, and footage of the Slumdog Millionaire star speaking with law enforcement has since circulated on social media.
A representative for the 2017 Oscar nominee confirmed the news in a statement to Variety.
“We can confirm that last night, in Adelaide, Dev Patel and his friends witnessed a violent altercation that was already in progress outside of a convenience store,” the rep said. “Dev acted on his natural instinct to try and de-escalate the situation and break up the fight. The group was thankfully successful in doing so and they remained on site to ensure that the police and eventually the ambulance arrived.”
The rep continued, “There are no heroes in this situation and sadly this specific incident highlights a larger systemic issue of marginalized members of society not being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. The hope is that the same level of media attention this story is receiving (solely because Dev, as a famous person, was involved) can be a catalyst for lawmakers to be compassionate in determining long-term solutions to help not only the individuals who were involved but the community at large.”
