Thursday, 4:30 PM
Boston officer honored for rescuing woman from kidnapping
(Bill Brett for The Boston Globe)
Atencio and Giannopoulos at the ceremony.
By Globe Staff
A Boston police officer was honored today in a City Hall ceremony for coming to the rescue of a woman who was allegedly being kidnapped.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino declared today to be "Patrolman Peter Giannopoulos Day" as the woman Giannopoulos helped, Alexandria Atencio, 22, of Brighton looked on.
Giannopoulos was driving down Cambridge Street just before 3 a.m. Tuesday when he saw a man struggling with Atencio.
Giannopoulos jumped out of his car and chased the man on foot. Other officers eventually caught him.
Police said Atencio's attacker had threatened her at knifepoint and forced her to walk with him from Franklin Street, over a bridge that spans the Massachusetts Turnpike, and then onto Cambridge Street.
The proclamation signed by Menino said that Giannopoulos "exemplifies what the men and women of the Boston Police Department do to serve our city."
The alleged assailant, Bruce L. Saidi, 25, of Chelsea, has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, and trespassing. Police are still looking for a second man who they believe was Saidi's accomplice.
