A California Good Samaritan Thwarted A Preteen Girl’s Kidnapping By Pretending To Be Her Mother

A California woman is being hailed as a hero after thwarting an alleged kidnapping of a preteen girl, KMOV-TV (St. Louis) is reporting. The Good Samaritan, whose name has not been released, foiled the kidnapping by pretending to be the victim’s mother.

Amy Martinez, 12, was walking to her Santa Ana school when she says she was approached by a stranger. The woman, she tells KTLA-TV (Los Angeles), gave her a “bear hug” and then started trying to drag her away.

“She told me in Spanish not to cry, but I wasn’t even crying.”

As Amy struggled with her alleged assailant, a Good Samaritan sprang into action. Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, with the Santa Ana Police Department, says that the woman, who had just dropped her own child off at school, had “about five seconds” to devise a plan and put it into action.

The woman then told the alleged kidnapper that she (the woman) was Amy’s mother and demanded that she let her go. The suspect relented and took off. Amy’s rescuer then took the young lass to school and called 911.

Police were later able to track down the would-be kidnapper, identified as 34-year-old Claudia Hernandez Diaz.

Amy’s mother, Sandra Martinez tells the Orange County Register that she was “shocked” when school officials notified her that her daughter had been the victim of an attempted kidnapping.

And while Mrs. Martinez is quick to thank the Good Samaritan who saved her daughter from a horrible fate, she’s shocked at how many people did nothing.

“Other people were seeing my daughter struggle and kicking and didn’t do anything. I’m just shocked.”

Amy’s family say that she will no longer walk to school; rather, she will be driven to school by a family member.

As of this writing, police have not released any possible motives for the attempted kidnapping.

The term “Good Samaritan” comes from the New Testament, and refers to Jesus’ parable about a person who goes out of his way, at great expense to himself, to help a person in need. In recent years, the media has used the term to describe strangers who step in an help when the situation calls for it.

And often, the Good Samaritan thwarts a crime. For example, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, back in 2016 a Florida Good Samaritan possibly saved a police officer’s life. Following a traffic stop, the suspect allegedly got into an altercation with the police officer who had pulled him over and was coming close to killing the cop. That’s when the man, who is a concealed-carry holder, shot the assailant dead, likely saving the cop’s life in the process.