A Muslim man is being hailed a hero after his quick-thinking actions saved an 11-year-old girl from being kidnapped by a stranger in Golf Manor, Ohio.
Nazier Elahee was captured on surveillance video helping an unidentified girl when he noticed her in distress.
Elahee watched as 37-year-old Jessie Woodard Jr. pulled the 11-year-old girl by her arm on Saturday. Although the girl remained silent, Elahee watched as she mouthed a call for help.
“I noticed that a man was walking down the street toting a girl behind her pulling her by the wrist,” Elahee said. “But as they walked passed us she looked back at me and mouthed the words ‘help me’ several times.”
Elahee immediately sprang into action and approached the child and the man. When he asked the girl if she knew the suspect, she said “no.”
“When she said no, I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ I asked the gentleman if he knew her and he said, ‘No, I’m taking her home,'” he added.
Elahee immediately contacted the police, who were nearby because the attempted kidnapping took place across from a police station.
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In the surveillance video, Woodard can been seen trying to escape; however, Elahee chased him to the Zee Food Mart until police arrived.
“If he had gotten that little girl to wherever he was going to she could have been raped… killed,” Elahee continued. “If I could have done something else, I would have, but the right thing to do was to call the police and keep the girl safe.”
Police recently released the surveillance video of the attempted kidnapping that occurred right across the street from the department.
The police department is located across from a park, where the child was before the incident unfolded.
The grainy video shows the moment Woodard was caught pulling the girl by the arm, according to police.
Woodard has been charged with kidnapping.
