Chilling footage shows a fifth-grade student almost being kidnapped by a man in broad daylight. The man is now in prison. The incident took place just before 8 am on Friday in Glendale, Arizona.
Joseph Ruiz, 37, was taken into custody on kidnapping and custodial interference charges, according to the Daily Mail. A video clip shows Ruiz’s silver car waiting after the girl left her family's apartment at 43rd Avenue and Onyx Avenue. Police said that is when he got out and tried to snatch the girl, who was able to escape.
Ruiz, a convicted violent criminal, did not seem to know the victim. After the girl ran away, three students came to help her after noticing she was distressed. Ruiz was eventually arrested later that day.
The girl can be heard screaming “no” as the man chased her, a KPHO reporter who viewed the raw video claimed. The footage was captured by a neighbour's surveillance camera. The girl told cops “that [the] unknown adult male had attempted to grab her as she walked to school.”
Minors who helped the victim being hailed as ‘heroes’
Police said they later tracked Ruiz down somewhere else in the city. “I would note that he has a history of violence,” said the state’s attorney in Ruiz’s court appearance video “ “He was convicted of an aggravated assault, a class 3 dangerous felony,” the official said. The charges came “after [Ruiz] stabbed his mother in the neck.”
{{/usCountry}}Police said they later tracked Ruiz down somewhere else in the city. “I would note that he has a history of violence,” said the state’s attorney in Ruiz’s court appearance video “ “He was convicted of an aggravated assault, a class 3 dangerous felony,” the official said. The charges came “after [Ruiz] stabbed his mother in the neck.”
{{/usCountry}}The three minors who helped the girl are now being hailed as “heroes.” “They hid her because the man was chasing her,” said Amcy Borquez, whose younger sister and two younger cousins helped the girl. “I think they were very brave for their age.”
“I’m telling them all day, like you’re heroes,” Borquez added.