They were two guys who looked like the people you want to cross the street to avoid, but they reacted and did the right thing while us two upstanding citizens were still trying to figure out what was happening.
And the girls were saved.
But don’t belittle yourself for not reacting soon enough. I’m not sure what I would have done either.
If they were from the ghetto, they were probably used to having to react quickly to violence. Most people who don’t have much experiance of violence are more prone to be temporarily paralysed with shock before they can do anything. Just different circumstances...