Mom With Kids in Back Seat Foils Carjackers

2 suspects fled after she fought them off
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 21, 2016 1:07 PM CST

Just call her Supermom: A 21-year-old woman was pumping gas at a gas station in Hialeah, Fla., Monday night when two people in ski masks attempted to carjack a car at another pump. When the driver sped off, they turned to her car, say police. As the suspects tried to jump into the car, the mom managed to fight them off, even pulling one suspect out of the driver's seat and pushing him away from the car, CNN reports. "She was a mom, and what that bad guy didn't know, in the back seat of that car were two kids," a local police officer tells WSVN. "She wasn't gonna let them be taken, so she fought, she dragged the guy out of the car, and they both ran away like cowards."

The whole thing was recorded on surveillance video. The two suspects—19-year-old Nicholas Rosado and a juvenile—along with suspected getaway driver Rebecca Utria, 21, were arrested and charged with attempted carjacking after a police officer spotted their speeding vehicle and began pursuit. "Haven't would-be criminals learned to not mess with mama bears?" wonders a blog post at Parenting, which points to a similar incident out of Texas. And Yahoo rounds up a few more, adding, "Although police generally advise complying with robbers rather than fighting back, it seems hell hath no fury like an angry mother defending her children." (This father in Atlanta saved his son by clinging to his car as it was being carjacked.)

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