A 10-year-old’s quick thinking and a 17-year-old’s willingness to help others are responsible for thwarting a potential kidnapping.
The Pennsylvania boy walked into a local store and asked the cashier to act like his mother after a strange woman was following him.
Sammy Green was walking home from school in Pottstown on Friday when he was approached by a woman.
He got the feeling that something wasn’t right after she kept asking him intrusive questions about where his family and father were.
“She was like, ‘I’m going to Wawa. Are you going there? What are you getting from Wawa? Where’s your family at?'” the boy told a local news outlet.
The woman told Sammy that she knew his dad and that he was supposed to go to Wawa with her.
She also said he could pick out whatever he wanted from the store.
Sammy knew that something was wrong and wasn’t about to be fooled by her nonsense.
That’s when he remembered something his dad taught him to do in situations like these.
He walked into a local store, which was Dani Bee Funky.
Sammy walked right over to the cashier and whispered in her ear saying: “Act like you’re my mom. This lady is following me.”
Meanwhile, the woman tried to walk into the store and was standing at the door holding it open.
The 17-year-old cashier named Hannah Daniels realized that was happening and went along with it.
She walked toward the door and put herself between the child and the woman at the door.
She then closes the door and locks it.
“He was really panicked,” Daniels said of the boy. “‘I was just like, ‘all right, go to the back.’ He didn’t want to leave my side.”
Store owner Dani Small said that she was glad that Sammy felt comfortable enough to walk into her store and ask for help.
She was also very impressed by how her employee reacted.
“I am very proud of her. Hannah is a 17-year-old young lady. She did everything correctly,” Small said.
Police were able to track the woman down and referred her for mental health treatment.
A video of the ordeal was captured by the store’s security cameras.
Seeing the video of his child almost being lured away by a stranger was very unnerving for Sammy’s father, Sam Green.
“When we were watching that video, I cried every time I saw it,” said Green. “To see my child looking for help because he was afraid basically for his life. That cuts you deep.”
Green said that he was proud of his son for the way he handled the situation and hopes that other parents will make sure to talk to their children about “stranger danger.”
“Think of every scenario and make sure that children know and also practice it. Practice your situations and scenarios just like fire drills.”
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