On the morning of Wednesday, February 21st, 12-year-old Amy Martinez went about her usual routine. She got up, had some breakfast, and began her journey to the Lathrop Intermediate School, where she attends seventh grade. Unbeknownst to her, however, she almost wouldn't get to her intended destination.
As she was walking along Main Street in Santa Ana, California, a strange woman appeared. According to Martinez, the woman - who has since been identified as Claudia Hernandez Diaz - ran across the street and made an attempt to grab her.
"She just came up to me and went like this," the girl explained to KTLA news, performing a motion which showed how Diaz had folded her arms around Martinez in a tight hug. "And then she started walking with me away."
Immediately, Martinez feared for her life, and began calling out for help in the hopes that a passerby would hear her.
And, fortunately, someone did.
By chance, a mother who was dropping her child off at a different school happened to drive past Martinez just after Diaz had taken hold of her - and she could immediately tell that something was wrong.
"Amy was kind of struggling to get away, so then those were the signs that something wasn't right," said the woman, who asked not to be identified.
Without a second thought, she pulled over and called out to Martinez to ask if she was ok.
"Our Good Samaritan was driving south on Main Street after dropping her child off to school. She sees our suspect, who has our 12-year-old victim in a one-armed bear hug, dragging her down the street," explained Corporal Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.
"She said she had, in her mind, had five seconds to come up with something to save this child," he continued. "She tells the suspect that she's the child's mother and she wants the child back."
And, amazingly, Diaz fell for it.
"I was basically yelling, 'Let her go,' so as soon as my voice changed, she let her go and Amy walked into my car," the good Samaritan said.
Once the 12-year-old was safe with her, the woman called police as she drove Martinez to school. When they'd reached the gates, the young girl - who was incredibly shaken by the incident - was reunited with her aunt.
"It's a place where there's a lot of cars and not one stopped until this lady came," said Cinthia Esparza, Martinez's aunt. "In our eyes, she's our angel."
"I want to say thank you for saving my life and you're my hero," said Martinez when she was interviewed by reporters.
But the anonymous woman says she was just acting on instinct, and would do it all again if she had to. "You're a parent, you see somebody else's child in danger, automatically you react as if it was yours," she said.
Diaz was later identified as a homeless person who resides in the area, and was already known to the police for prior criminal activity.
