Brandie Weiler stopped to help in an accident, not knowing her daughter would end up becoming a hero.
Brandie was with her daughters Maddie and Mollie when they witnessed a traffic accident along John Taylor Highway.
The accident involved two cars and it happened right in front of the family. Brandie pulled over to help. She stepped out of her car to check on the female motorist then dialed 911. As she was speaking with the dispatcher, the man who caused the crash approached the van that Maddie and Mollie were in.
Maddie quickly locked the door but the man was quicker.
He stuck his hand through the window and unlocked the door. The man climbed in and began yelling things they couldn’t understand.
“He was saying all these things like, ‘Let’s go’ and ‘I need to get to this place,” Maddie said to WTKR.
He tried to drive off with the children but thankfully, Maddie wasn’t one to back down, especially when it involved her little sister.
She had an ace up her sleeve and it saved them during that crucial moment.
She put the van in drive and kept it there, as it was one of the car’s safety features. After Maddie knew the man couldn’t start the vehicle since it was in drive, she just “went for it”.
“Nothing passed my mind except, ‘He is a psycho and he needs to get out of the car’.” She said to the news outlet.
She began to punch the man and screamed for help. This gave Mollie, her little sister, enough time to escape as the man was trying to defend himself.
“I thought he was going to take us,” Mollie shared with WTKR. “It was amazing because she has never done that.”
The man then got out of the van and approached another vehicle and attempted to carjack it. But before he could do even further damage, the police arrived at the scene. The man was identified as Paul Salsman.
Salsman was apprehended and charged with three counts of attempted carjacking, hit and run, and driving under the influence of drugs.
And while Salsman was taken into custody, they cannot shake off the fact that the situation could’ve ended worse if not for Maddie’s quick thinking.
Maddie and Mollie come from a family of police officers. As such, they were trained by their parents on what to do during these situations.
“She has always been told if anyone tries to take you, kick, scream, bite, hit, gouge out their eyes, whatever you have to do,” said Steven to WTKR.
But even with her self-defense response, Steven admitted that throwing the car in drive to keep the engine from starting was something he didn’t expect.
Maddie was injured during the encounter.
She suffered a fractured growth plate in her wrist. Meanwhile, her younger sister Mollie came out of the experience with a comforting thought. The whole situation might be terrifying, but it also proved that she will always have a big sister who will do everything to protect her.
As for other girls who may find themselves in a similar situation, Maddie leaves one piece of advice: “Just fight them.”
Watch how a big sister prevented a situation from becoming an Amber Alert in the video below!
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