If there’s anything more American than a fast-food joint in the South, it’s regular guys becoming heroes.
It started as a typical day for Cody Byrd. One Friday morning, Byrd stopped by Biscuitville to grab breakfast before work. The fast-food restaurant is popular in Virginia and North Carolina, where Byrd lives, and a few other customers were enjoying their meals while Byrd waited for his food.
Then, the 24-year-old grad student noticed that something was off. As a mother and her 8-year-old daughter, Madeline Owen, were sitting at one table, a middle-aged man was fixated on the young girl.
“It’s the kind of vibe he was putting off,” Byrd told a local news outlet. “The fact that when I came in, he was just staring at the girl, and he was just so focused on her.”
So, when Owen left to use the bathroom and the man, identified as Timothy Fry, followed her, and so did Byrd.
He asked Fry, who was lingering in front of the bathroom, if he was waiting in line. The man said he wasn’t, which put Byrd in an awkward position: Should he stick around to monitor the situation, or should he leave? He decided to walk into the men’s bathroom — slowly.
“So it was just a stroke of luck because as soon as I stepped in, I was kind of looking at the mirror, pretending I was going to use the bathroom. I heard the door open for the women’s bathroom, and that’s when I stepped back out, and I noticed him trying to grab her,” Byrd said.
After Fry attempted to grab the little girl, according to Byrd, she ran back to her mother, and Fry skulked off to his table, clearing it, and rushing to his car.
“At that moment, I was feeling a rage, like adrenaline rushing,” Byrd explained. But he kept his cool enough to take a photo of the man, his car, and his license plate as he drove away. Soon, the alleged predator was in police custody. Fry was charged with first-degree kidnapping and taking indecent liberties with a child.
Madeline Owen’s mother, Heather Owen, said she gave Byrd “the biggest hug in the whole world” before he left. And that’s not the only token of appreciation he’s getting from the residents of Greensboro.
Thanks to his heroism, Byrd will get free Biscuitville for a year.
“I just really want Cody to be sure that he realizes how appreciative we are as a brand and that we certainly do recognize what he did, and it’s no small thing,” said Kristie Mitchell, Biscuitville’s vice president of marketing.
Byrd received a “Good Citizen Award” at Biscuitville last month. And afterward, he enjoyed his first free meal with his mother.
