ZD – if you were passive, what is the sheilah? Is it that she asked you first, so you could have said “yes” or “no”? Or she didn’t ask you, but you could have spoken up before she did it?
I’m not a Poseik and I don’t know what the correct thing to do would have been, but under the circumstances, having to make an immediate decision, and not having anyone to ask, it sounds like you acted admirably under the circumstances. I would be curious to know what a reliable halachic authority would say about it.
Regarding my previous question though, could you have bent down or sat down?