If you've ever had a feeling that something wasn't "quite" right only to have your friends or family tell you that you're just over-sensitive, this story is for you! An abducted 7-year-old is home safe with her family and the suspected kidnapper is behind bars. It's all thanks to one quick-witted Target worker who felt something was "off" about one of her customers.
Cops in Pittsburg, California, are crediting Roxanna Ramirez, a loss prevention specialist at the big box store, with saving little Natalie Calvo.
The story goes that Ramirez noticed a man fidgeting in the aisles and acting strangely, so she followed him outside where he continued to set off her "strange-o-meter." On a hunch, she wrote down his license plate number. Turns out the hunch was right!
Later her girlfriends shared details of an Amber Alert, and the guy in question sounded an awful lot like the man Ramirez had seen, and his car matched the description. The Target worker called the cops with the license plate number, they tracked down car owner David Douglas, and voila! Natalie was rescued, and Douglas has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.
Can you imagine what would have happened if she hadn't followed up on that weird feeling? If she'd just written it off as being "over-sensitive" and let it slide?
I confess sometimes I'm the one who has called people's "feelings" over-sensitive. Heck, I'd even call some of them a little nosy!
Once someone followed my husband when he was taking our daughter to the car because she was misbehaving (inside a Target, ironically enough) and actually wrote down our license plate number. Knowing he wasn't kidnapping his own kid, I was a little annoyed. But it's stuff like this that makes me feel grateful that there are people who keep their eyes open because, hey, you never know.
Your "over-reaction" could end up saving a life!
Have you ever had that sense that someone was just "off"? What did you end up doing about it?
Images via Antioch Police; California Highway Patrol