‘God Bless Them': Bystanders Chase Down Carjacker Who Took Off With Woman's Child: Police

A toddler is safe after two bystanders chased down a man who stole a woman's car with her child inside, D.C. police say.

Tamara Richardson pulled over in the 1400 block of Saratoga Avenue NE about 9:30 a.m. Monday to tend to her 2-year-old son Marco who was sitting in a car seat in the back.

As she was adjusting Marco's seatbelt, a man got into in the driver's seat of her car and started to drive off.

"I turned around for a second and he was jumping in my car," Richardson said.

She tried to hold on to the door handle, but lost her grip.

"I was terrified. I didn't know what to do," Richardson said.

Richardson thought that would be the last time she would ever see her son.

"I didn't think I was ever going to see him again. I was thinking of the movie Taken," she said.

Two witnesses who saw what happened invited Richardson to hop in their car to chase after the suspect, police said.

"I keep telling them, like, 'Go, go go!' ... 'Can you go faster? Go faster!'" Richardson said.

The carjacker eventually parked in the 1500 block of Evarts Street NE and tried to take off on foot. While he fled, the witnesses flagged an officer and gave him a description of the suspect.

Soon after, the suspect was apprehended several blocks away.

The child was not hurt, police said.

Police later identified the suspect as 21-year-old Matthew Walker. He is charged with kidnapping and unarmed carjacking.

In a statement thanking the witnesses, police said that without their help the mother and child might not have been reunited.

Richardson also had thanks to give.

"If it wasn't for them ... things could've been so worse," she said.

"God bless them."