Police arrested a man in Worcester, Massachusetts, Monday after he allegedly drove off with an SUV that had a young girl in the backseat, officials confirm.
Surveillance video captures a dramatic encounter on Main Street around 4:40 p.m. on Monday. A white SUV pulls over, the driver gets out of his car and is quickly beaten up by another man, identified as Oscar Perez-Trinidad.
The incident began just about a minute before. Perez had just walked into this market. He left his 7-year-old daughter in the back seat with the car running.
Police say 28-year-old Richard McBride then jumped into the driver’s seat in an attempt to steal the car.
“It was just a crime of opportunity. He jumped in the vehicle with the intent of taking it away, not realizing that there was a child in the backseat, but nevertheless he did drive off with that girl,” Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst explained.
He stopped because the child’s father had flagged down a police officer, who recognized something wasn’t right and turned on his emergency lights. McBride pulled over, the girl ran out of the car, and Perez started pummeling McBride.
Mia Agosto saw the commotion.
“My emotions were, especially for him, I was very scared for him, you know. I didn't know what was going on until I saw his daughter running out of the vehicle,” Agosto said.
The child, shaking and crying, ran to a convenience store.
McBride was arraigned Tuesday morning on several charges including kidnapping. He is held on $100,000 bail.
The child and her father were shaken up, but not injured.
