ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – A man is being hailed a “hero” and “good Samaritan” by Ormond Beach Police for helping an elderly couple who were fighting a woman attempting to steal their car.
Adam McDaniel told News 6 he was in the right place at the right time Saturday morning when he happened to stop at the same gas station as the couple off Interstate 95.
Police said the attempted carjacking happened at the Exxon on US-1 just off the interstate in Ormond Beach. The couple told police they pulled into the gas station, parked in a spot, and that’s when the carjacking suspect, Marvette Perry, jumped in their car.
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McDaniel saw it all happening and jumped in to help.
“My 3-year-old is with us in the back seat of the car. I’m pumping gas, just kind of doing my own thing and I was talking to her in the back seat, I opened the back door, and I noticed the lady behind me, and she was kind of acting weird, she wasn’t pumping gas,” he said.
McDaniel and his family were just one hour into their ten-hour drive home to North Carolina when they stopped.
When he noticed the woman, later identified as Perry, acting strangely near them, McDaniel said he started getting his gun out of its case. That’s when he saw the couple park their car and Perry sprint towards them.
“As soon as he got out of the car, she took off running and jumped in his car and he grabbed her leg. So, I proceeded to get my firearm out and point it at her to make sure she didn’t have any weapons or anything,” McDaniel said.
The police said Perry jumped into the driver’s seat and tried to take the car from the couple while the wife was still in it. The husband grabbed Perry’s leg to stop her from leaving with the car.
McDaniel said he kept his gun on Perry until he realized she was unarmed, and another bystander called 911. He said the entire situation moved quickly.
“It was a split second. When she took off running from the time she got in the car it was probably two seconds.
Body camera video showed police getting on the scene and arresting Perry.
“She was resisting like crazy. He actually had to put her on the ground so she would stop resisting and then his body camera fell off, so I went and picked that up so they could have evidence,” McDaniel said.
He said it was quite the crazy ending to their family vacation.
“My daughter was actually in the car, and she loves police cars and all that, so the sergeant actually came up and talked to her and told her that her daddy was a hero today and all that,” he said.
Perry is being held in the Volusia County jail without bond.
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