Victor Perez lauded as a hero after ramming suspect's truck, which he recognized from news reports.
The hero, Victor Perez.An 8-year-old Fresno, Calif. girl was kidnapped from her front yard Monday night by a stranger who forced her into a rust-colored Chevy pickup truck with white stripes. An Amber Alert warned everyone to be on the lookout for the truck and the little girl wearing a purple Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt.
Victor Perez, an unemployed construction worker, was watching news reports on the case Tuesday morning when he saw the truck making a U-turn in front of his house. He jumped in his pickup and tried to get the other driver to pull over, finally pulling his pickup right in the path of the suspect's truck. The suspect pushed the girl out of the truck and fled; Perez scooped her up and told her she'd be safe. About 40 minutes later, police caught up with the suspect, Gregorio Gonzalez.
Perez told reporters he was scared and worried he had the wrong man, but all fear dissolved when he saw the little girl's frightened face pop up in Gonzalez's truck during the chase. "I made eye contact with her. And that's when I wasn't scared anymore," Perez told the Los Angeles Times. "I won't kid you, until then I'd thought 'Does this guy have a gun?' But once I met her eyes, I just thought 'I've got to get that little girl out of there.' "
» Concerned citizen helps free kidnapped Fresno girl [Los Angeles Times]
» Samaritan Recounts Dramatic Kidnapping Rescue [ABC News]
» Suspect in kidnapping and assault of 8-year-old girl had previous criminal record, authorities said [Los Angeles Times]
» Victor Perez earns a chair in columnist's personal Hall of Fame [The Chattanoogan.com]