The fear of having their children kidnapped is among the worst a parent can experience. Even though kidnappings are relatively uncommon, one can only imagine how painful it must be to know that your child is still alive but that you will never be able to be with them.
If it weren’t for quick thinking and a breakfast favorite, this nightmare would have become a reality.
Four girls in Michigan threw coffee at a kidnapper to scare him off. The man grabbed one of the girls by the hair as they were leaving a Flint convenience store. He drew her in and made an attempt to kidnap her.
“He looked really weird, he grabbed me and he, like, covered my mouth and he grabbed my head. He said, ‘You’re coming with me,’ and I was, like, in shock,” Allison Eickhoff told Inside Edition.
Lauren, her sister screamed and immediately jumped into action.
However, given the suspect’s size, these small children’s efforts might not be very effective. It’s a good thing one of them thought to use something else to fend off the kidnapper.
Lauren said, “I grabbed my drink and chucked it at his head. I tried, I punched him in the head,”
“Seeing that your little sister was going to get taken is very scary.”
The girls were able to stop the predator from abducting Allison by throwing their iced coffee and enough time for the police to arrive at the scene.
Police arrested 22-year-old Bruce Hipkins and charged him with unlawful imprisonment, assault and battery, and two counts of criminal sexual conduct. He is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at the Tuscola County Jail. He has not entered a plea.
When he posed for his mugshot, evidence of the girls’ bravery was apparently all over his T-shirt, which was covered in stains from the various beverages.
The girls urged others who might find themselves in a similar situation to “always fight back because you always have a chance.”
Allison credited her father with teaching her self-defense tricks that especially came in handy.
“Punch ’em, kick ’em, anything to get away and always punch in the throat … they go and stop breathing,” she recalled of his lessons.
They had no idea that their lives were about to change in such a dramatic way as Allison and her friends were leaving the gas station. They had no idea that all they would have to use to defend their friend’s life would be the beverages they had bought from the convenience store. Fortunately, they were able to act quickly and stop the kidnapping using nothing more than their quick thinking and strength. Because of the courageous actions of these young girls, Hipkins is now behind bars.
Watch the video report below for more details:
Sources: Awm, Washingtonpost, Insideedition
