The American tourist stabbed while stepping in to defend two women from an attack on a tram in Germany has now been identified as 21-year-old John Rudat, a part-time model and newly certified paramedic from upstate New York. He sustained severe facial injuries during the confrontation but is being praised as a hero for his courageous actions.
According to details shared on a fundraiser organized by his brother’s girlfriend Molly, Rudat was riding a tram in Dresden early Sunday when he witnessed two women being violently assaulted by a group of men. Without hesitation, he intervened, and in doing so, became the target of a brutal assault himself.
The young New Yorker, who recently qualified as a paramedic, suffered deep knife wounds to his face and was rushed to the hospital for treatment. Photos from the aftermath showed blood covering the tram floor, while passengers desperately tried to control his bleeding with tissues before emergency crews arrived.
“We got a little scared when we found out,” Molly, who is also a first responder, told The Post. “We didn’t know the extent of his injuries. We were at dinner the other day and he called saying, ‘Hey, I’ve been in an incident, I’m OK, just if you can notify my parents because they weren’t answering the phone.”
At the time of the attack, Rudat had been staying with his former foreign exchange host family in Dresden. Social media videos he later posted suggested that one of the assailants was already well-known to police as both a drug dealer and a violent offender.
Authorities later confirmed that a 21-year-old man from Syria was taken into custody in connection with the assault. However, prosecutors later released him, citing a lack of evidence directly tying him to the stabbing. “According to the on-call public prosecutor’s assessment, there were insufficient grounds for detention. The knife attack cannot be attributed to him,” Senior Public Prosecutor Jurgen Schmidt explained to Bild.
For Rudat’s family back in Albany, the news was distressing but not surprising given his character. “I would have been surprised if he hadn’t stepped in,” his brother Logan, 22, told The Post. “It’s part of his character. That’s just the way we were raised,” he added, expressing hope that his brother will soon be able to return home safely.
Despite his injuries, Rudat later appeared on Instagram with his face heavily bandaged to speak out against his attackers and what he described as Europe’s broader immigration issues. “If y’all didn’t think Europe had an immigration problem, especially Germany, let me drop some knowledge on you,” he said in the video.
“It is 11:57 a.m. right now. In three minutes, that man that assaulted that young woman will be released from custody. He’ll be released from custody because he’s not a citizen of Germany, he’s not a citizen of the EU for that matter,” Rudat explained.
“He’s an immigrant, an illegal one, a drug dealer, and very popularly known here, especially by the police. This is not the first time this has happened. It’s not the first time that man has beaten up women, and it’s not the first time that the other guy decided to take a swing at my face with a six-inch blade,” he continued. “If they could do this to the people of Germany and then just get released 12 hours later — even less at this point — where is the law? Where is the structure?”
He concluded with a pointed message: “If Germans are held to that law and that structure, but these people could just come in, swing knives and hurt, abuse, terrorize and oppress citizens of Germany, then what do we do?”
The U.S. Embassy in Germany has since issued a statement calling on German officials to act decisively. “We urge German authorities to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice and punish them to the fullest extent permitted by law. Safety is a collective responsibility—no one is safe until all are safe,” the embassy declared.
Back in New York, Logan emphasized the outpouring of support for his brother. “Me, Johnny and Molly are pretty well known in the capital region in terms of the first response community, and everyone has been incredibly supportive,” he said. “All my coworkers, all Molly’s coworkers, every friend, teacher, all of Johnny’s coworkers, everyone has been incredibly supportive of him.”
