7 Year Old Walmart Abduction

7 Year Old Walmart Abduction, You may have seen the unsettling video of 7-year-old Brittany Baxter being grabbed by a would-be kidnapper at a Walmart store in Bremen, GA last Wednesday. The entire world breathed a collective sigh of relief when Brittany escaped; but it’s important to note how and why she was able to get away. Basically, Brittany used her “stranger danger” training. In the attached video, you can see a man grabbing Brittany, trying to cover her mouth, and attempting to carry her off. But according to Brittany in an interview provided by sky.com:

… cool-headed Brittany remembered to use evasion tactics taught during a school ‘stranger danger’ lesson.

“I was looking at princess and fairy stuff,” she said.

“I tried to kick as hard as I could. You try to get away and tell somebody you trust.”

Brittany’s mum Georgeann Baxter added: “She said that a man had tried to kidnap her.”

“He had picked her up his hand over her mouth, but she was kicking and screaming. He then dropped her and ran out.”

The kidnapping attempt, the alleged kidnapper, and his car, were all captured on Walmart surveillance video.

Thanks to that video, police were able to trace the car’s license plate to 25-year-old Thomas A. Woods who now faces attempted kidnapping charges.

And according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Woods was on probation at the time of the alleged kidnapping after serving a sentence for a voluntary manslaughter conviction in DeKalb County, GA.

But as Woods was being led in handcuffs from the police department to a patrol car, he told reporters that the police had the wrong man.

“I was never there,” Woods said. ~ ajc

The important message that all parents need to take away from this story, is that you must share the following with your children: “If anyone ever grabs you, kick, scream, bite, do whatever you must do to get away and to a safe place.”

No matter how vigilant we are, no-one can keep their child safe every second of every day. Children need to be able to think, and act, on their own behalf.

Stranger Danger

Stranger Danger, Fighting off a stranger as an attempted abduction is caught on tape. That potential kidnapping happened in Georgia, but here in Northwest Ohio a local martial arts instructor says every child needs to know the importance of stranger danger.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice more than 2,000 children are reported missing everyday.
One girl in Georgia escaped from her would be kidnapper.

The 7 year-old girl was looking for toys at Walmart when police say a man grabbed her trying to steal her away. The man’s attempted abduction failed when the little girls stranger danger training kicked in.
Here at Jeff Gears Martial Arts Academy in West Toledo, Gears teaches more than 100 kids those same techniques if they’re ever approached by a stranger.

“We really need to understand there are some really bad people out there,” said Gears.

Gears says he doesn’t want his students to become paranoid, but he wants them to be prepared if a situation like this ever arises.

“Resistance does help. The girl didn’t do anything real fancy there wasn’t any magical martial arts stuff she was taught no matter what happens she has to fight to get away,” said Gears.

Voluntary Manslaughter

Voluntary Manslaughter, Loleta resident Maggie Jean Wortman, 27, accepted a plea offer and pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of voluntary manslaughter for killing her infant son with methamphetamine-laced breast milk.

Wortman was arrested after her 6-week-old son, Michael Phillip Acosta III, was found not breathing and taken to a local hospital on Nov. 21, 2010. The boy was pronounced dead that day, and a subsequent autopsy determined the cause of death to be “methamphetamine toxicity.”

Prosecutors, including Deputy District Attorney Ben McLaughlin, said Wortman smoked the drug and passed on a lethal dose to her son while breastfeeding him.

”There was every indication that Wortman knew she was placing Michael in grave danger by exposing him to methamphetamine, yet she continued to do so,” McLaughlin said in a statement.

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson presided over the case as Wortman pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, a parole violation and a misdemeanor child endangerment charge from 2009.