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Cumberbatch channels his inner superhero to stop mugging
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, most recently seen as the superhero Doctor Strange in Avengers: Infinity War, saved a cyclist on takeaway duty from a gang of muggers.
The actor jumped out of a taxi in London to fight off four miscreants who allegedly smashed the cyclist over the head with a bottle, The Telegraph reports. What’s more, this incident took place near Baker Street, the place in London that’s the address of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional sleuth who had a modern makeover in a superhit TV series led by Cumberbatch.
According to eyewitnesses, Cumberbatch’s intervention foiled the mugging. The 41year-old actor dragged the perpetrators off the victim, who was in his twenties, after screaming at them to leave him alone. One of the men had tried to steal the cyclist’s bike, but nothing was lost.
Cab driver Manuel Dias said that the cyclist was lucky and described Cumberbatch as a “superhero”. Dias, 53, said that the actor and his wife, Sophie Hunter, were riding in his taxi but he only recognised him when he got out of the car.
The driver, who also tried to help the victim, said, “Then it all got a bit surreal. Here was Sherlock Holmes fighting off four attackers just round the corner from Baker Street. I had hold of one lad and Benedict another. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He was very brave. He did most of it, to be honest.
“They tried to hit him but he defended himself and pushed them away. He wasn’t injured. Then I think they also recognised it was Benedict and ran away.” Dias said that the actor embraced the cyclist after the scuffle.
London’s Metropolitan Police have confirmed that they were called to reports of an assault, and that the group had headed off along Marylebone Road towards Baker Street. The victim did not need hospital treatment.