Child Safety Tips:
Kidnapping Escape

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

The rule of thumb for kids is: Take three giant steps backward and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction, and then immediately tell a parent or trusted adult what happened. ... Amy Vandegrift knows the child safety drill: If a stranger rides up in a car beckoning to her, she's to make a beeline in the opposite direction. "You scream and get your friends to call 911,'' says the 11-year-old. ... "Nothing takes the place of parental or trusted adult supervision and attention," says Nancy McBride, director of prevention education at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "Obviously, that's true for younger children, but it's just as true for older children.... There's no book, no video, no gimmick you can buy that can take the place of that."
Excerpted from The Christian Science Monitor – 29 July 2002

Two men kidnapped 7-year-old Erica Pratt from a Philadelphia street in July 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 one wintry morning in 1993. A man exited his pickup truck parked at the curb of the busy intersection, then grabbed and pulled the ten-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 recently-built 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. Child safety odds of survival are far better on the spot rather than at a secluded secondary crime scene that a kidnapper chooses to carry out his evil plans undeterred. 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

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"It seems impossible to overstate the haunting videotape image of Carlie Brucia being led to her death," said child safety expert Bob Stuber. "The entire world, for the very first time, saw that type of crime happening." ... Stuber thinks children should still ride their bikes to the park, walk down the street and play outside with their friends until the streetlights come on. "What children need to learn," he said, "is how to recognize danger and how to respond. That's why we have to teach our kids child safety - here's what you do."
Excerpted from The Sarasota Herald-Tribune – 30 January 2005

Bob Stuber teaches child safety to 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 to another adult 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

An intruder abducted a 9-year-old girl from her home. She kept her head as she talked to her abductor, telling him she was ailing. "It's as if she established some type of relationship with him so that he saw her as a person," Deputy Chief Rob Davis said. "To the extent that you can humanize yourself, you can create an opportunity to escape." The girl overheard the abductor talking about killing her. "She went crazy and thought, 'Oh, my God! I have to find a way out."
Excerpted from The Oakland Tribune (CA) – 08 June 2003

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