Swedish students who stopped Stanford sex assault say they acted 'on instinct'

Peter Jonsson and Carl-Fredrik Arndt, thebike-riding Swedish PhD students who came to the aid of an unconscious woman being sexually assaulted behind aStanford University dumpster, have been hailed as heroes bypolice, the public and the victim herself.

The pair testified at thetrial of formerStanford star swimmerBrock Turner, 20, who wasfound guilty on three felony charges for the attack and sentenced to six months in jail a punishment legal experts have decried as overly lenient.

On Wednesday, one of the young men spoke to several American news outlets about what he and his friend saw the night ofJan. 18, 2015.

• Stanford sentencing seen as too lenient by legal experts
• Stanforddefends how it handled sex assault case
• Turner's dad says 6 months too harsh for '20 minutes of action'

The duo were cycling across the California campus after midnight on Jan. 18, 2015, when they say they came across Turner"thrusting" atop a partially clothed woman.

"It seemed OKat first," Arndt told NBC News. "Then when we looked closer, Peter started noticing and I later that she wasn't moving."

The studentsapproached Turner, who Arndt saidstood up and left the young woman motionless on the ground.

"We saw she wasn't moving still. So we called him out on it. And the guy ran away, my friend Peter chased after him," Arndt told CBS.

He said Jonsson tackled Turnerto the ground, whileArndt tended to the young woman.

"She was unconscious. The entire time. I checked her and she didn't move at all,"Arndt said.Turner'sattorney had argued in court the woman wasawake during the encounter and consented.

According topolice reports obtained by Huffington Post, witnessing the assaultwas an emotional ordeal for Jonsson,whocried multiple times while giving his testimony to police.

Still, Arndt told NBC thathe and his friend did not hesitate tostep in.

"I think it happened on instinct for us," he said. "I never thought about it twice and I'mglad I did it."

Duo made case 'prosecutable'

More than a year later, a jury foundTurnerguilty of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated victim and two charges of digitally penetrating an unconscious and intoxicated victim. The Swedes' witness testimony helped secure that conviction, authorities say.

Without their intervention, "we wouldn't know who the perpetrator was,"Santa Clara County Deputy District AttorneyAlalehKianerctoldHuffingtonPost."Those two heroes made this case a prosecutable one."

I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story.- Stanford sexual assault victim

Still, the sentence of six months in jail and three years of probation has drawn sharp rebuke from legal experts, the victim and anti-rapeadvocates. Turner faced a maximum penalty of 14 years behind bars.

In his ruling, Judge Aaron Persky said he took into consideration Turner's intoxication, letters of support, remorsefulness, clean criminal record and mostcontroversially the effectthe conviction wouldhave on the one-time Olympichopeful'slife.

'There are heroes in this story'

Jonsson has declined media interviews, but in aFacebookpost, he encouragedpeople to read the victim's powerful7,244-word-long courtroom statement.

"To me it is unique in its form and comes as close as you can possibly get to putting words on an experience that words cannot describe," he wrote.

In her statement, the 23-year-old woman describes the hardships she'senduredsince waking up in a hospital bedafter the attack. She also lambastes Turner for failing to take responsibility for his actions and criticizes the judge for giving Turner such a lenient sentence.

"The fact that Brock was an athlete at a private university should not be seen as an entitlement to leniency, but as an opportunity to send a message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class," she wrote.

Butshe also took a moment to highlightthe actions of the pair who halted the attack.

"Most importantly, thank you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet. I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another."