SAN ANTONIO – The wife of a man who stepped in during a stranger’s time of need — a woman whose car was towed away with her 5-year-old daughter inside — is calling her husband a hero.

“I’m so proud of my husband. I’m absolutely very proud of him,” Nancy Ramirez said. “He’s a grandpa. He’s a father. So that’s what kicked in at that moment.”

She spoke to KSAT 12 News by phone Tuesday about the ordeal, which she said has left her husband, Gilbert Ramirez, physically exhausted.

Gilbert Ramirez is still healing from surgery and had stepped out to run only a few quick errands Monday morning, she said.

However, when Gilbert Ramirez returned to his apartment complex on Blanco Road near Lockhill-Selma he drove into the middle of a stranger’s chaotic situation.

“He says (the woman) came out of nowhere, screaming and hollering, ‘Help me. Help me,’” Nancy Ramirez said. “She was talking Spanish, so he knew she couldn’t speak English.”

Nancy Ramirez said the woman, who was frantic, explained that her car had been towed away with her 5-year-old daughter still inside.

She said her husband then took the woman into his car and tried to chase after the tow truck, but he couldn’t keep up.

Gilbert Ramirez ended up calling San Antonio police, who instructed him to drive the woman to Trinity Towing, located on Jones-Maltsberger Road not far from Wurzbach Parkway.

“So he did. He went over there,” Nancy Ramirez said. “He took the lady over there and she rekindled with her daughter.”

Police said the woman told them she had left her daughter for a few moments in her car, which was still running and had the hazard lights flashing, while she went to knock on a relative’s door at the apartment complex.

She said that’s when the tow truck driver swooped in and took off with her car.

A preliminary police report said the tow truck driver did not properly secure the car with chains and brake lights before he drove off.

As of Tuesday morning, they were still deciding whether to file criminal charges against him.

KSAT 12 News called and emailed Trinity Towing both Monday evening and Tuesday morning, asking for a statement about the incident. As of Tuesday afternoon, no one with the company had responded to the request.