In an incident seen on his body camera, a Florida deputy used his quick thinking to prevent both alleged car theft and the kidnapping of two children.
According to the Florida Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, two kids who were abducted in a carjacking on Monday were found just a few minutes later.
It all happened so fast.
Around 6:40 p.m. on Monday, Deputy Jonathan Pazmino Alvarez was stopped in Tampa by a guy who said that his truck had just been taken with his two young children still inside.
“It was so quick. It happened within minutes,” Officer Pazmino Alvarez recalled of the ordeal. “Out of nowhere, we see this gentleman running behind his truck yelling, ‘He just took my truck with my kids.'”
Their father was calling out for help.
Deputy Pazmino Alvarez can be seen on body camera footage getting into his squad car and chasing the truck while yelling for the driver to stop.
The truck stopped, and he walked over.
There were two boys, 8 and 4, inside.
“They were crying. They were super upset,” he recounted further. “And as soon as they saw me, they lined up, they stopped crying and they pointed out like, ‘He’s not my father.'”
The kids were beyond horrified.
It’s unknown if the truck’s suspected thief, 37-year-old Kevin Smith, was aware of the kids’ presence inside when he stole the vehicle.
Smith reportedly remained silent after being read his Miranda rights, according to Pazmino Alvarez.
Despite this, the deputy claims that the kids’ presence affected how he handled the situation.
He didn’t draw his gun out.
“Typically, for any high-risk call, we will have to draw our guns out and make sure that we got every person out of the vehicle one by one. But knowing that there were kids there, I didn’t want this person in front of the wheel to do anything irrational that could harm the kids,” he remarked.
Smith was taken into custody without a snag.
He is accused of grand theft of a car on one count and two charges of felony kidnapping.
The two kids were unharmed and made it back to their father without incident.
Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
“The situation could’ve been a lot worse had it not been for the swift action taken by Deputy Pazmino Alvarez,” Chad Chronister, a Hillsborough County Sheriff, said. “He halted what could have been an otherwise terrifying situation for any parent. Thanks to him, two children are safe and in the arms of their loved ones today.”
Pazmino Alvarez has previously taught swimming to children, which made this specific call remarkable to him.
He is happy with the turnout.
“At that moment, I talked to the dad who was so brave. He just said to me, ‘I’m so glad you were there,’ and I looked back and said, ‘Wow, I’m glad I was there too,'” he shared.
With all the bad men out there, we’re grateful for the good and brave cops who stop them. Thank you, Deputy Pazmino Alvarez!
Check out the video below to witness the rescue.
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