California teacher’s aide stops alleged kidnapping attempt

An observant elementary school employee in Antioch, California, is credited with stopping the alleged kidnapping of an 11-year-old while on her way to work.

A woman had noticed an 11-year-old girl in the front seat of a vehicle with an unknown man, and recognized her as a student at Sutter Elementary School, according to police.

Sandra Ferguson, a teacher’s aide at the school, told KGO that she spotted the frightened-looking girl sitting in the vehicle and asked whether the unfamiliar man was her dad. She was driving to work at the school when she suddenly spotted something that shook her to her core.

The teaching assistant got the schoolgirl out of the auto and called police, who arrested Santiago Salazar, 51, on suspicion of kidnapping. The girl, who has not been identified, was not injured.

Police say the young girl did not know the suspect. “I said, ‘No, he’s not your friend!'” Ferguson told ABC 7.

“Thankfully, she was a guardian angel at that point in preventing something from happening”, Harrington said. “It was kind of like a superwoman power thing”.

Instinctively Ms Ferguson knew something was wrong and quickly swung her auto in front of the man’s vehicle, blocking him in. “I told her, ‘You get out of that truck right now!'” She immediately called the police. He allegedly pulled up next to her, opened the passenger door, and pulled her inside the vehicle.