12-year-old saw a man walking away with her little neighbor — her quick response saved the kid's life
Some kids show unexpected amounts of bravery in tough situations. A brave 12-year-old girl did the same when she followed her little neighbor after seeing a man taking her somewhere. She didn't know what would happen next and didn't want to take any chances. So she followed the man immediately to ensure that the little girl was safe and ended up saving the 4-year-old from a potential kidnapping, per TMJ4 News. She was in tears as she recounted the incident later on.
The girl, Jada Miller, managed to scare off the man, Benjamin Spasogevich-Lee, after he tried to kidnap her 4-year-old neighbor, Caylee. The girl ran behind them and confronted the man to save the little girl. "I just ran after Caylee [because] I didn't know what could have happened next if I hadn't run down there," Miller explained. She didn't think too much or even wait to inform the parents. "I felt that if I had stopped to like ring the doorbell and the parents were too busy doing something, they wouldn't get to the door in time, so I just went down there and did my own business," the girl recounted. At the same time, another girl, 13-year-old Trinity Stout, ran to get the little girl's parents for help.
"He grabbed onto her wrist after he saw nobody was paying attention," Stout pointed out. "I wanted to go chase after him, I really did, but that's not how I was brought up, so I just called the police right away," Jeff Carr, Caylee's dad, admitted. Spasogevich-Lee had moved into the neighborhood a few months earlier with his family and always seemed like a suspicious person, according to the neighbors. The 27-year-old told his neighbors that his name was Elijah and was seen behaving inappropriately on several occasions. He even talked to the kids a few times and asked them some inappropriate questions. "He was stripping when the bus came one day. He was stripping down to his underwear," Carr remembered.
The dad had called the police on the man after he harassed his wife and told her that she wasn't a good mom. However, he had never thought that his neighbor would do such a thing and try to take his daughter away. "I never thought he would do something like that." The little girl told her parents that the man grabbed her hand and told her to follow him, according to the police complaint. Her 12-year-old neighbor stepped in soon enough after that. "Caylee was like I'll be back and then I looked at him and said, 'No, she won't,'" Miller highlighted. She was crying as she remembered the incident and was scared of what could have happened. Other kids also noticed what was happening as the 12-year-old girl ran to get the little girl.
The man was charged with inappropriate conduct and abduction of a child. He had also denied that he was trying to do anything wrong at that time, per the outlet. The man's bail was $15000 and he would not be allowed to get in touch with anyone under 18 years of age when he got out. "I'm proud of her. I'm happy about the other kid. I hope more communities can react like that; come together and be aware of what's going on," Bernard Baynes, a neighbor, told Fox News.