Teenagers get a lot of flak for their famously poor decision-making skills and are advised to ignore their impulses and focus on being responsible. But sometimes, the instincts of youth are so plain and simple, there is no better course than to follow them.
Two Texas teens, Aaron Arias and Jamal Harris, were on their way to pick up a friend from work in Segoville, and they had stopped their car at a signal. Then, Jamal, who was sitting in the passenger seat, noticed a car to their right with a beautiful young woman in the backseat.
He got his friend’s attention, pointing out the woman, and the two boys tried to get a better look at her. Then the man driving the other car turned to look at them, and the boys just got a bad feeling about him.
A moment later, their eyes connected with the woman’s, and they saw her mouth the words “help me.” Suddenly, their entire perspective on the situation changed.
Something about her expression immediately convinced them that this was not a joke. As the signal changed and the other car began to drive away, they saw the woman turn and bang desperately on the rear window.
The teenagers could have ignored the situation or disregarded their own instincts, but Jamal and Aaron decided to follow them instead.
Calling 911, Aaron said they were witnessing what looked like a kidnapping. The boys tailed the car on highway 175 for miles while speaking to the 911 operator.
They followed the kidnapper for half an hour. It seemed the driver realized he was being followed and was trying to lose them. Sometimes he would speed up so much that they could barely keep up, and other times he would slow to a crawl.
Minutes later, the car was intercepted by police, and they pulled over the suspect. There were squad cars everywhere. The boys watched the action unfold from their own car. “Thank God, you guys are awesome!” Aaron cried. “Oh my God, get him!”
“I was beyond excited, because I knew someone was going to stop them and the police would come and they were going to get them. And I just wanted to see it through,” Jamal said.
Jamal said: “You don’t need a cape to be a hero. You just have to be yourself and just respond.”
The cops nabbed the kidnapper and freed the 25-year-old woman. She had allegedly been kidnapped after leaving an office party in downtown Dallas. Fortunately, she was unharmed.
It turned out that the kidnapper, Charles Atkins Lewis, had hit the young woman over the head with a gun and forced her into her car. He has since been charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery and was placed in jail with a bond of $50,000.
Later, the woman met the two quick-thinking teens, who were instrumental in saving her life, to thank them. Her hug was the best reward. Aaron called it “payment for everything we did.”
