Woman vs Carjacker: Texas Mom Punched, Ran Over Thief to Protect Kids
'All I Was Thinking of ... Get Him Away From My Kids,' Mom Says
A woman and a carjacker's interaction is all over the news after the mother of six managed not only to fight him off, but hit him with her car Friday. The Texas mother saw her children's life in danger when the man attacked her and resolved to do whatever she could to keep her children safe.
The woman's carjacker was Ismael Martinez, and he managed to sneak into the minivan while it was unlocked and parked in a CVS parking lot. Dorothy Baker-Flugence of Baytown, Texas returned to find Martinez in the vehicle, threatening her son with a knife.
"The guy pulled a knife on her," Charles, her husband, told KTRK. "He had a knife on my son." The criminal demanded that Baker-Flugence drive him to an ATM and give him $200.
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The mother reportedly told Martinez he "messed with the wrong witch" and wrestled the knife away from him, cutting herself across the chest in the process. While driving, she honked the horn and attempted to call 911, but when Martinez realized, he attacked her.
Baker-Flugence decided to swerve off the road and back onto it to confuse the carjacker. She then spotted the telephone pole, and started speeding towards it.
"I thought, 'If you swerve and hit the pole, he's not wearing a seatbelt, he'll go through the windshield or at least hit his head, and you can stop him. You can do something to make sure that he doesn't hurt your kids,'" she told KTRK. "That's all I was thinking of really, was just to get him away from my kids."
After striking the telephone pole, the mother punched Martinez in the face. The criminal decided to cut and run, exiting the vehicle, but Baker-Flugence hit him with the car, intending to prevent him from harming anyone else.
"She actually overpowered him. At some point in time, he jumped from the vehicle and was run over by the vehicle," Lt. Eric Freed of the Baytown police said.
Martinez was taken to a local hospital with back injuries, but is expected to survive. The convicted rapist and burglar will face criminal charges once he is discharged. Baker-Flugence's children were not harmed in the attack.
"She's my hero," said Flugence, her husband. "I'll take her anywhere twice on Sunday. She's a tough one. I wouldn't have it any other way."
