The boy just followed his father's advice and escaped a potential kidnapper.
Despite parents' best efforts to shield their children from life's dangers, threats can still emerge unexpectedly. It’s crucial for parents to teach their kids how to respond wisely in uncomfortable situations. Sammy Green, a quick-witted boy, is being praised for heeding his father’s advice to evade a woman who appeared to be a potential kidnapper, as reported by 6 ABC.
On the afternoon of November 11, 2022, Sammy Green, who typically walked a portion of his six-block route home from school with a friend before continuing alone, noticed a woman following him on High Street in Pottstown. "Started walking with him and asking him where his family was, asking where his dad was," said Sam Green, the boy's father.
10-year-old Sammy was not familiar with this woman, but she insisted that she knew his family, and asked him to go along with her. "She said she probably knew me and was going to Wawa and that he was supposed to go with her and he could get anything he wanted," Green said. No doubt, Sammy was frightened. His instincts told him that something was utterly wrong. Then he recollected his father’s advice and acted quickly. "I have told Sammy to (ask) an adult for help and to be loud and scream about it," Green told TODAY. So Sammy rushed to the gift shop Dani Bee Funky, whose staff was familiar to him.
The shop’s surveillance footage caught the moment when the boy stepped inside the store, while the strange woman was still standing behind the door. The boy walked to the cashier and whispered something in her ear. "He said 'act like you're my mom, this lady is following me,'" Green revealed. The 17-year-old cashier, Hannah assumed that the woman was Sammy’s mother, however, she said that “the way she hung in the doorway was unsettling.” In the CCTV footage, Hannah is seen walking over to the door and pulling the door shut, until the woman outside left. "When we were watching that video, I cried every time I saw it," Green said.
When local police came across the video on Green’s social media, they started tracking the woman in question. Soon enough, they discovered that the woman was a local who was receiving treatment for mental health issues. For this reason, Sammy’s parents refrained from charging any case against her. "Several of our officers recognized the woman on the Facebook video as a local homeless woman who is often in the area. She has mental health issues. We were able to find her and refer her for some help," said Mick Markovich, chief of the Pottstown Police Department. Meanwhile, the shop owner, Dani Small, praised both Sammy and Hannah for doing what the situation aptly demanded. "I am very proud of her. Hannah is a 17-year-old young lady. She did everything correctly," said Small.
Kidnapping is a serious issue around the world. According to the Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center, every 40 seconds, a child goes missing or is abducted in the United States. Approximately 840,000 children are reported missing each year. In scenarios like this, it becomes even more crucial for parents to teach their children how to be smart and quick.
In Sammy’s case, Green had already taken severe measures to safeguard his boy. According to TODAY, Green is now organizing a "Guardian Angel" neighborhood watch group so children can walk safely to and from school. Plus, Sammy has a new route to home. He walks three blocks to a family friend’s house and stays there until his father picks him up. Green said he was very proud of his son for doing the cleverest thing he could have done in a situation like that. “Sammy is very intelligent," Green said. "He is humble, but I can tell that he feels good about how he handled it."
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