JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The woman who helped stop a nine-year-old boy from being kidnapped described what went through her mind during the rescue.
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On June 27 at the intersection of Moncrief Road and Edgewood Avenue West, Shameika Dowell witnessed 22-year-old Mikaya Williams pushing a child into the back of a car.
Without hesitation, Dowell jumped in her car, chased the woman down, and rescued the child.
Williams was arrested for kidnapping in connection with this case.
Dowell said she was at the intersection with a few boys helping them sell water. They go by “The Water Boys.”
She went across the street to check on her son, and shortly after, she heard a lot of cars honking.
When she looked back, she saw a woman shoving one of the boys she was helping sell water into the back of her car.
From there, she jumped in her car with her son and started chasing after the woman. Dowell said at one point she was right beside Williams’ car, and she could see the nine-year-old boy crying and waving at her for help.
She chased Williams down in front of a home near 42nd and Dodge Road, and blocked her in. That’s when she started kicking Williams’ car door repeatedly, and it eventually popped open.
Dowell said police came and arrested the woman, but she’s still puzzled as to why all of this happened, but she was glad she was there.
“I was devastated,” Dowell said. “I’m like, ‘are you serious?‘ I’m looking at someone snatch one of our kids and pulling them in the car. It was a ‘think fast Meika, move quick. You gotta get this child, move quick.”
The little boy involved in this said it was scary, but he wanted to come back out and still sell water to make money to buy school clothes.
Dowell said since the attempted kidnapping, she has been more on alert when she’s out with the children.
