12-Year-Old Girl Outsmarts Carjacker and Saves Little Sister!!

 12-Year-Old Girl Outsmarts Carjacker and Saves Little Sister

According to Global Missing Kids, approximately 460,000 children are reported missing every year in the United States. That’s a number we can never accept, and it makes me very sad that so many children are out there without their parents or loved ones due to carjacking and kidnapping.

Together, we will find out how a little girl saved her sister from a kidnapper. That's what you'll find out at the end of the video.

Fortunately, this potential kidnapper was caught before his evil plans became a reality. And how he was captured is still making headlines around the world.

We have seen several examples of children being brave over the years. Just because you’re a kid doesn’t mean that you cannot stand up for what’s right, be brave, or save lives.

So, how did she manage to fight off this kidnapper?

A Virginia mom, Brandie Weiler, was driving her daughters to Busch Gardens when they witnessed a car accident along John Taylor Highway. She left her girls, Maddie, 12, and Mollie, 7, in the van to check on the victims and call 911.

As soon as Brandie had walked away, a man from the car that had caused the crash slowly approached the van.

This presented a very dangerous situation

Maddie reacted quickly and locked all the doors, but the man stuck his hand through the window to unlock the van and got in.

The man tried to drive away with them saying things along the lines of ‘Let’s go’ and ‘I need to get to this place,’ but Maddie was determined to put up a fight.

She immediately put the van in 'drive' to stall him and then, began punching and screaming at him with all her might, giving enough time for her little sister to escape.

She had a smart plan

The man tried to defend himself but he ended up getting out of the car and tried to carjack another car. 

Eventually, the mother pulled the keys away, and the man began running away, she claimed. Police officers finally arrived on the scene and arrested the alleged perpetrator, identified as Paul Salsman. Steven Weiler, the father, expressed pride, saying:

"This could have been an Amber Alert had it not been for her thinking.”

According to law enforcement, Salsman was tased twice when they tried to catch him and was charged with multiple offenses, including three counts of attempted carjacking, hit and run, and driving under the influence of drugs.

Maddie’s father, Steven said that Maddie has always been told to “kick, scream, bite, hit, gouge out their eyes, whatever you have to do” if anyone attempted to take her. 

Coming from a family of police officers, Maddie and Mollie were trained on what to do in such situations but throwing the car in drive to prevent the engine from starting was something that even Maddie’s parents didn’t expect her to do. 

We get courage from unlikely places

Maddie’s courage and cleverness stemmed from the need to protect her sister. At a time when someone could be paralyzed to react, she used all the skills she was taught to stop Salsman.

Though she suffered a fractured growth plate in her wrist, the young hero believes that it’s a small price to pay for the safety of her family – and she encourages other girls to follow her example.

This story also encourages parents to teach basic self-reliance skills to their children so that they could defend themselves in times of need.

We can take some cues from her bravery to be better prepared and avoid being victims of carjacking and kidnapping in the future.

A look at carjackers' methods

For any type of criminal act, criminals must first formulate a plan on how they will go about getting what they want in the most ruthless way possible. 

A whole set of steps, a whole process, and a concrete system are in place (trust me). In addition, different crimes use different methods that thugs use to rob you of your car.

Some popular methods include:

• Blocking a vehicle: a vehicle pulls up in front of you blocking your advance while another one may pull up behind you, leaving you sandwiched. When you have nowhere to go, the perpetrators spring into action and commit the crime.
• Acting as a good Samaritan: Where a criminal will pose as a motorist in need, a victim injured in a car accident, or pretend to have caused one so you stop to help, resulting in you becoming a victim of their car hijacking scheme.
• The collission: Your vehicle will be bumped by them, causing a minor accident, causing you to stop and be victimized.
• Pretending as if they're having car trouble: They utilize people's good nature to trick them into assisting by pretending that their car is having trouble, and before you know it, you have become a victim of one of many roadside carjackings.
• Halted traffic attack: In this situation, it is the natural traffic that is sandwiching you, but the criminals do not just "seize the day." They study the traffic patterns and plan their attacks accordingly, often by foot or by motorcycle.

It's obvious that some of these attacks are outright vicious, while others are simply some circumstances or deceptions used to lure you in. 

Even if you are aware of all these and keep your eyes open, you can't be 100% safe since someone will always come up with a new method of carjacking.

Criminals also adapt and become more cautious as a result, but what worked yesterday might not work today, so they have to get smarter and more creative to continue plying their trade. 

Therefore, you should regularly consult your police department, auto insurer, and security agency for information on how not to become a victim.

We can learn from Maddie's bravery

Maddie said she wasn't scared because she was so hyped up on adrenaline.

She knew what she had to do. She was thinking of getting Mollie out and beating the guy up so he couldn’t start the car - whatever she could to save Mollie. If he took Mollie or both of them, she would have put her life on the line to save her sister.

As Maddie told People, "When you're in a situation like that, you just go." Most people would freeze, but she wasn't about to leave her sister behind.

Afterward, 12-year-old Maddie was hailed as a hero by her mother and the police. According to Maddie, she’s a horse girl, so handling the violent man was no problem because she usually knows how to get control of a big, wild horse. 

Unfortunately, Maddie suffered a fractured wrist during the encounter but was happy to be able to defend her family.

She would do the same thing again – without hesitation. Let us know your opinion in the comments section on what this little girl has done.