JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A carjacking and child abduction ended with a dramatic rescue after the suspect crashed into another vehicle during a police pursuit, First Coast News reported.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, a woman reported that a man forcibly removed her from her vehicle before driving off with her 1-year-old daughter still inside on Feb. 8.
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Officers quickly located the stolen vehicle and initiated a pursuit. During the pursuit, the suspect crashed into another car just a few streets away. A 14-year-old in the struck vehicle escaped, but an adult woman remained trapped as the vehicle caught fire.
Body camera footage shows Officer Almin Residovic pulling the injured woman from the burning car and extinguishing flames in her hair.
“I got to her just in time,” Residovic told a fellow officer. The woman was hospitalized and is recovering.
Police arrested the suspect at the scene. The kidnapped child was found unharmed in her car seat and reunited with her mother, according to the report.
The suspect is facing multiple charges, including carjacking and false imprisonment of a child. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 3.
The sheriff’s office praised Residovic’s actions, saying the rescued woman is “incredibly grateful to be alive.”
