Posted on 09/27/2009 9:56:25 AM PDT by Bodleian_Girl
A quick trip to grab a bite to eat by Police Chief Kevin Belk and Deputy Police Chief James Farris turned into a baby-saving adventure Thursday afternoon.
While headed to lunch, Belk and Farris chased down a Chevy Suburban stolen moments before with a baby boy inside, police said.
The mother of 10-month-old Kamaron Hill is hailing both as her ``heroes'' after they saw her ``hysterical'' on Fulton Street near Dwight Avenue, she said.
Kandeis Hill, 35, of Grand Rapids, ran into the street after her sport utility vehicle was taken from the Fulton Street Superwash, at 912 E. Fulton St., with her son strapped into his child-safety seat in the back.
``They're my Supermen,'' Hill said. ``It's like they just appeared.
``By the grace of God, they were right there.''
Hill arrived about 1:30 p.m. and was unloading baskets of clothes from her vehicle in the front of the coin laundry, with Kamaron asleep in his seat.
``I grabbed a basket and took it inside and sat it down in front of a washing machine,'' she said. ``And when I came outside, the car was driving through the parking lot.
``I started screaming, `Oh, my God! No!' and I ran after it.'' Belk and Farris were traveling to lunch in the deputy chief's unmarked squad car when Hill bolted past.
``We saw her screaming and hollering as she ran after this car,'' Belk said.
The officers immediately stopped, asking Hill what the problem was.
``They shot right out after him,'' Hill said.
Both followed the SUV as a man drove on Dwight toward Baldwin Street SE.
As the vehicle slowed to a crawl on Baldwin about a block from the laundry, a second man approached the SUV to climb in. But when he and the SUV's driver saw the officers approaching, he made a run for it, Belk said.
With Hill also running after the vehicle, she said she saw a man bail out.
Belk then jumped from the squad car and ran after the SUV, which was moving with Kamaron inside.
``He just ran and jumped into the driver's side of my truck,'' Hill said of Belk. ``It was so cool.''
Belk said his first thought was to keep the baby safe.
``I was able to jump in and stop it from rolling down into a house at the end of the street,'' he said. ``I wanted to make sure the baby was OK.''
Farris chased after the suspects, who ran off, but he was unable to catch them.
``We'll continue the investigation, and hopefully be able to find the guys,'' Belk said.
Hill said both officers comforted her afterward.
``I don't know what I would have done without them,'' she said, still choked up over the incident hours later. ``I just thank God.''
Belk said: ``The baby slept right through it. We were very happy to be there.''
Today I am just feeling thankful for the thin blue line. I know they don’t always do every thing right, but sometimes, they do.
Hey wow, thanks!!!
My wife is the director of a church preschool program. They have about 100 children in the program. Several times a year she has to reprimand parents who leave a child sleeping in the car and run in ‘for just a minute’ to drop something off or pick up another child. They have had cars stolen from right in front of the gate because the parent went off and left the keys in the car. They’ve had purses stolen off the front seat of unlocked cars.
Apparently this mom went inside and left the child sleeping in the car seat. In some jurisdictions that’s enough to get a parent charged with neglect.
“In some jurisdictions that’s enough to get a parent charged with neglect.”
It should not be.
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