A New Mexico mother recently threw herself on her vehicle while trying to stop the alleged carjacker who drove away with her two children.
Melody Maldonado of Hobbs held on to the hood of the car as it sped down a street on Monday, the Daily Mail reported Friday.
Maldonado told the outlet she was not thinking about herself when she began yelling at the accused, Regina Castillo, 29, to put on the brakes.
However, she said, “She kept driving. We went a good distance, through an intersection, past the Allsup’s. She was swerving so that I would fall off.”
Maldonado fell off the vehicle and broke her foot but gathered the strength to run to a nearby store and call for assistance, saying she could care less what happened to the car, “I just wanted my kids back.”
Video footage showed the moment the white car sped down a street with the woman on the hood:
Castillo eventually left the six-year-old, who is autistic, in a random area where community members rushed over to protect the child.
The suspect later abandoned the SUV at an intersection with the 11-month-old still inside, and ran from the scene. However, she was pursued until officers were able to catch up and place her in handcuffs.
In a social media post on Tuesday, the Hobbs Police Department detailed the incident and said Castillo had three active arrest warrants.
The children were later reunited with their mother, according to the agency. Castillo was being held at the Hobbs City Jail, where she faced several charges including unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, and child abuse.
The incident occurred when Maldonado stopped at a store to buy a bottle for her baby, and left the children in the car.
When she went back out to the car, Castillo reportedly followed her. The moment the mother unlocked her door, Castillo allegedly pushed her to the side with the keys and got into the vehicle.
That was when Maldonado threw herself onto the hood.
“I was banging on the window the whole time, telling her to stop,” Maldonado recalled.
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