Child Safety Tips:
Kidnapping Escape

Kidnapping is the worst threat to Child Safety. Teach your child to:

CHILD SAFETY DRILL: If a stranger in a car wants you to come closer, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction, and scream for someone to call 9-1-1.

Two men kidnapped 7-year-old Erica Pratt from a Philadelphia street in 2002. They locked her in the basement of an abandoned house and made ransom demands of her family. Erica gnawed through the duct tape binding her, kicked through a door panel, broke an outside window to call for help, and was freed with the help of kids nearby.

Rebecca Savarese was walking to school in Pittsfield MA on a wintry morning in 1993. A man exited his pickup truck parked at the curb of the busy intersection, then grabbed and pulled the 10-year-old toward his truck. She yelled and spun away, leaving him holding her backpack as she ran to safety. He dropped it on the sidewalk and casually drove away. Only one of many passersby noticed the kidnapping attempt and wrote down the truck’s license plate number, leading to Louis Lent’s arrest at his home (with cages concealed in the walls) – a suspected murderer of dozens of children.

Rebecca was his only target who’d been taught child safety classes – to defy an adult and fight to escape immediately. Odds of survival are far better on the spot rather than at a secluded secondary crime scene where a kidnapper can carry out his evil plans. As early as possible, through role-playing (and playing Hide & Seek), teach Child Safety to your children – how to escape from a kidnapper.

STRANGER DANGER ESCAPE

Child Safety Devices & Program

Child Safety Tips

The haunting videotape from Evie's Car Wash camera in Sarasota FL shows 11-year-old Carlie Brucia being led to her death by Joseph P. Smith in 2004 – the first time the world actually saw a monster kidnapping a child – pulling her by the wrist out of sight.

It might have never happened had she not been outdoors unsupervised, or had she known the child safety technique for kids to get away from an adult by “windmilling” their arm when it's grabbed – that is, suddenly swinging the whole, straight arm from the shoulder in a large circle to break his grip. Then the child should run screaming for help.

If snatched while on a bike: hang onto the bike with hands and legs intertwined around the bike to prevent being shoved into a car. Scream all the while.

CAUTION: These escape maneuvers may injure the child or others. The parents must assume all responsibility and decide if the benefit of child safety outweighs the risk. Practice these maneuvers in a parked vehicle with the motor turned off.

The main idea is to stop the kidnapper – the sooner the better – from driving the child to a secluded location. The child must disrupt the kidnapper’s ability to drive and/or cause the car to crash while it’s moving at a slow speed. This will attract the attention of other people and give the child a chance to flee. Then:

• Immediately, before he even begins to drive her away, she can thrust herself between the driver and steering wheel – hanging onto the steering wheel with all her might while blaring the horn. Do this as soon as possible – or whenever she gets the chance.
• Grab the ignition key to turn off the engine – causing the car to suddenly slow and the steering to freeze.
• Grab the steering wheel while he’s in mid-turn.
• Brace her back against the door and attack the kidnapper with the powerful Defensive Ground Kicks taught in Fighting Strategies. He won’t be able to drive while absorbing a rapid-fire barrage of such kicks.
• Jump out the door whenever the car is not moving.
• Scream “Help! Police!” whenever a window or door is opened.
• If she’s a back seat passenger, she may still be able to attack the driver by attacking his eyes or throat from behind at a critical time. At a very slow speed, cause the car to crash!

To enhance child safety, teach children Clinch Attacks at Fighting Strategies.

GIRL OUTSMARTS KIDNAPPER

A burglar, Enrique Sosa Alvarez, kidnapped 9-year-old Jennette Tamayo from her San Jose CA home in 2003 and drove away with her in the back seat of his car. She felt panic when he spoke on his cellphone about killing her and thought, “Oh, my God! I have to find a way out.” She stayed strong as she talked to him, saying that she was sick – so that he saw her as a person.

Spooked by intense media coverage and an Amber Alert, he dropped her off unharmed. She helped police find him by having memorized his cellphone number.

Safety Tips for Kids

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