(RepublicanNews.org) – A family trip to the grocery store devolved into the attempted kidnapping of a 2-year-old girl in Texas recently, complete with the alleged assailant nearly having his throat slashed by the victim’s enraged mother. A portion of the incident was caught on a nearby residential security camera. After their trip to a Tarrant County Walmart, Paige Ortiz insisted to her husband that a blue truck was following their vehicle.
Ortiz’s husband initially dismissed her intuition, even after the truck followed them to their driveway. He insisted, she said, that she was overreacting. A security camera across the street appears to show the blue truck pull up on the curb adjacent to the Ortiz family’s driveway. As the Texas mother began taking groceries inside, the driver of the suspicious vehicle chose to get out and begin talking to her husband about his truck.
Quickly, he lunged and grabbed their 2-year-old, with a struggle ensuing between Ortiz’s husband and the assailant. Having grabbed a knife while briefly in her house, Paige simultaneously dialed 911 and charged toward the scuffle. As the man reportedly yelled that their daughter didn’t belong to them, Ortiz put the blade of her knife to his throat and threatened to kill him if he didn’t release his hold on their daughter. Carlos, the husband, held the attacker’s arm while his wife successfully pulled the toddler away and scurried her into the house.
Although the man escaped the scene, Paige was able to give a vehicle description to authorities. A chase with Sheriff’s deputies followed in which the fleeing vehicle hit three separate department vehicles. Steven Bayse, 62, eventually surrendered to deputies. Despite earning three felony charges from the incident and despite having a prior criminal history, his bond was set at $125,000. The United States Department of Justice reports that a staggering 58,200 children are the victims of non-family abductions each year.
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