Woman pretends to be girl’s mum, rescues her from kidnapper - Shepherd Digest Magazine

Five seconds. That’s all the time a woman had to rescue a frantic 12-year-old girl from a suspected kidnapper in a brazen abduction Wednesday, February 21 on a busy Santa Ana street, in California, USA.

“She saw something and she acted,” Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said, adding the good Samaritan has asked to remain anonymous. “We believe because of her actions she prevented the girl from being abducted”

Around 7:45 a.m., Amy Martinez was walking in the 1100 block of South Main Street toward Lathrop Intermediate School when a homeless woman grabbed her, Bertagna said.

“The suspect wrapped her in a one-handed hug and began dragging her away,” he said.

The good Samaritan was driving by, spotted Amy in peril and sprang into action. “Her motherly instincts kicked in,” Bertagna said.

The good Samaritan pulled into a parking lot at the northwest corner of McFadden Avenue and Main Street, rolled down the window of her car and confronted the kidnapper, who was still holding on to the frightened girl.

“She looks at the victim and asks, ‘Are you OK?’ ” Bertagna said, noting that it took about five seconds for her to formulate a rescue plan. “Then she begins yelling, ‘She’s mine. Give her back.’ ”

The good Samaritan put the girl in her car, drove to Lathrop Intermediate and phoned police to relay a description of the kidnapper.

Sandra Martinez, Amy’s mom, said she was stunned when school officials told her that her daughter had nearly been abducted.

“I have no way to describe how I felt when the principal told me,” she said. “You don’t expect it to happen to you and when it does you don’t know how to react.”

Sandra Martinez added she’s glad the good Samaritan rescued her daughter but is dismayed no one else driving along the busy street stopped to help.

“I’m glad she was there at the right time and the right spot,” the girl’s mother said. “But other people were seeing my daughter struggle and kicking and didn’t do anything. I’m just shocked.”

Officers saturated the area where the abduction occurred and found a suspect, 34-year-old Claudia Hernandez-Diaz, Bertagna said. She has been booked into Santa Ana City Jail on suspicion of kidnapping a child under the age of 14.

The incident has understandably unnerved Amy, who from now on will be driven to school by a family member, Sandra Martinez said. “She won’t be walking by herself.”