A carjacker's plan is foiled when he steals a car with a baby inside and the protective parents leap into action. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
It was every parent's nightmare unfolding before one couple's eyes. A carjacker approaches a parked vehicle, and there's a baby in the back seat. So the parents leap into action...literally.
The drama happened at a gas station outside Kansas City. 22-year-old Melanie Richman and her husband Aaron had stopped to fill up and change their 6-month-old daughter Samantha's diaper.
Aaron dives in the car window, and the mother hangs on for dear life in a desperate effort to save their baby.
"All I could keep yelling was 'my baby! my baby! my baby!'," said Melanie Richman.
"I had to act, and act fast," said Aaron.
Melanie puts the baby back in the child's seat. Then she and her husband are distracted by some other family members traveling with them.
Melanie said, "My mom started talking to us so we stepped away, just feet or so."
As the parents walk out of the surveillance camera's field of view, the carjacker is hovering in the background. He sees his chance.
He walks over to the car with the little baby inside. He reckons in a few seconds he'll be safely making his getaway. But the baby's parents have other ideas.
Aaron said, "He throws it into reverse and backs up. She busts the window, I jump in."
That's right, Aaron is actually in the car at this point. But Melanie can only hang on frantically to the door.
"As he peeled out, I just slid back and kept holding on for as long as I could," said Melanie.
A stunned Melanie drops to the ground. The carjacker keeps going, with Aaron still inside, fighting to stop him.
Aaron said, "I'm just kicking him over and over and over and over again, screaming 'Get out! My baby's in the car!' "
The carjacker crashes and manages to run off. Aaron hands the baby to his mother-in-law, who carries the child back in her arms.
Today, little Samantha is safe and sound at home with mom and dad, her brother Landon and sister Bailee.
Melanie still has the bruises from where she hung onto the car. She and her husband say their brush with disaster has taught them a lesson.
"Make sure your guard is always up, and be prepared for any situation," said Aaron.
