Alarming footage has surfaced online showing the moment a desperate mom clung on to her car after a stranger took off with the woman's two children still inside.
As reported by Fox News, the scary incident occurred earlier this week on July 4 in Hobbs, New Mexico.
The Hobbs Police Department reports that Melody Maldonado, a 33-year-old mom and librarian, briefly left her vehicle after parking the white Hyundai Santa Fe in front of a store. Inside the car were her six-year-old daughter and 11-month-old son.
However, before she could get back into the vehicle, an unknown woman shoved Maldonado and jumped in her car.
Check out the heart-pounding moment in the video below, as well as bodycam footage of the suspect's arrest:In an attempt to stop the carjacker, the desperate mom jumped on the hood of the car, with security footage showing the mom clinging to the hood of the car as it speeds down East Navajo Drive at around 8:30PM.
Sadly, Maldonado's efforts were not enough to stop the woman from getting away.
After police eventually located the car, they found that the suspect had abandoned the six-year-old at an intersection in an apparent attempt to flee the pursuing officers.
The woman was later identified as Regina Castillo.
Castillo reportedly abandoned the car and made another effort to flee from police officers, but was later arrested after being found hiding behind a pickup truck in a nearby residential area.
Castillo was later charged with unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, two counts of child abuse, and resisting/evading or obstructing an officer.
Additionally, officials learned that she had three active arrest warrants, and was also charged with three counts of failure to appear.
After the children were examined by medics, they were reunited with their mom.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Maldonado opened up about the terrifying ordeal and recalled the moment she jumped onto the car.
"[Castillo] definitely heard me. I yelled for her to stop and that my kids were in the car," the mom said. "She kept driving. We went a good distance, through an intersection, past the Allsup's. She was swerving so that I would fall off."
Maldonado was left with a broken foot after being thrown from the car's hood. But despite the agonizing injury, she managed to sprint to a nearby store and call for help (as her phone was in the car).
"I didn't care what happened to the car. I just wanted my kids back," she said.
