"She kept saying to me, 'Please help me, Miss crossing guard, please help me,'" said Adrian Young, a crossing guard at the elementary school.
A Los Angeles school crossing guard has been hailed a hero after allegedly thwarting a woman's attempts to kidnap an 8-year-old girl from a local elementary school.
Read: 911 Call Reveals Boy, 8, Frantically Describing How He Saved Brother, 2, From Kidnapper
An 8-year-old girl was leaving campus on her first day of school last month when a woman she didn't know, later identified as 50-year-old Maria Ramirez, grabbed her firmly by the hand, and said, "Come on, come on," the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.
That's when the girl spotted school crossing guard Adrian Young, who was off duty, and called out to her.
"She kept saying to me, 'Please help me, Miss Crossing Guard, please help me,'" Young, who stands at only 4 feet 8 inches tall, told KTLA.
She told the girl to "hold on to me as tight as she can, because both of us were very small, and the lady was bigger than me."
Young was able to free the 8-year-old from the accused kidnapper by punching her, according to KTLA.
"I'm very thankful for you," the girl's mother, Sharon Arellano told Young as she pulled her in an embrace. "If it hadn't been for her, I don't know where my daughter would be right now."
Read: Boy Gets Locked Inside School Bus, Misses First Day of Kindergarten: 'I Cried Myself to Sleep'
Ramirez was booked on felony kidnap charges by the LAPD Wednesday and is currently being held on $100,000 bail.
The heroic crossing guard who went above and beyond the line of duty was also formally honored by the city.
"Sometimes superheroes come in small packages," a representative said.
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