A quick-thinking 10-year-old in Pennsylvania recently thwarted his own potential kidnapping.
Sammy Green was walking home from school in Pottstown on Friday, whena woman began following him, reported ABC 6 Philadelphia.
“(She) started walking with him and asking him where his family was, asking where his dad was,” Sam Green, the boy’s father, told the station Tuesday.
“She was like, ‘I’m going to Wawa, are you going there? What are you getting from Wawa? Where’s your family at?’,” he told the outlet.
As he didn’t know the woman, the fourth-grader ducked into Dani Bee Funky, a store that was familiar to him. Sammy then approached a 17-year-old cashier named Hannah, telling her to “act like you’re my mom, this lady is following me.”
6abc Philadelphia/YouTube
A surveillance video at the store captured the moment and shows the woman standing at the door as if she were waiting for Sammy.
Hannah then calmly walks over to the entrance, putting herself between Sammy and the woman, and locks the door.
“I am very proud of her,” the shop’s owner, Dani Small, told ABC 6. “Hannah is a 17-year-old young lady. She did everything correctly.
Dad Sam had similar sentiments — and was also hugely relieved that his son followed the advice he’d previously given him on what to do in that very scenario.
Dani Bee Funky in Pottstown, PA.google maps
“When we were watching that video, I cried every time I saw it,” he told .
“To see my child looking for help because he was afraid basically for his life,” Sam Green told CBS 10, “that cuts you deep.”
“Think of every scenario and make sure that children know and also practice it,” he added. “Practice your situations and scenarios just like fire drills.”
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Police were able to track down the woman involved, and she is now receiving mental health assistance, according to ABC 6.
No charges have been brought against the woman.
source: people.com
