Police in Springfield, Massachusetts, said a father told them he was outside of his vehicle making a delivery around 10 p.m. May 19 when he noticed an unknown individual enter his car.
Worse still? The father told police his child also was in the vehicle at the time.
Officers arrested 40-year-old Angel Tapia-Otero and charged him with carjacking and kidnapping, police said.
Police said the dad got back into his car from the passenger side and tried to remove the intruder from the driver’s seat and fought with him.
With that, police said the intruder began accelerating the vehicle — and soon hit another car head-on.
In the aftermath, the driver of the other vehicle involved in the collision could see two people fighting in the other car with a child inside it, police said.
Image source: Springfield (Mass.) Police Department
After arriving at 10:50 p.m. at the intersection of Belmont Avenue and Keith Street — the scene of the head-on crash with injuries — officers arrested 40-year-old Angel Tapia-Otero and charged him with carjacking and kidnapping, police said.
Police said it wasn’t clear if Tapia-Otero knew a child was inside the car when he entered it. Police said the suspect also was charged with operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license.
Blaze News reached out to Springfield police and asked if the victim or his child or both were injured, and if so, what were the extent of their injuries. Police told Blaze News they don’t provide information about crime victims — but they did say Tapia-Otero was injured in the fight with the victim and taken to a hospital.
The Hampden County Correctional Center on Tuesday morning confirmed to Blaze News that Tapia-Otero was still in the facility after being booked into jail May 20. Officials said he is not bailable and that they couldn’t provide his next court date.
WWLP-TV reported that Tapia-Otero is from Springfield. The city is located in Western Massachusetts, on the shores of the Connecticut river just north of the border.
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Crime thwarted, Fighting back, Massachusetts, Springfield, Arrest, Carjacking charge, Kidnapping charge, Father and child, Delivery, Dad fights for child, Dad defends child, Crime
