A Texas mother fought back against a carjacker last Friday, eventually running him over in order to protect her children.
The woman, Dorothy Baker-Flugence, had just left a CVS store with her two-year-old and five-year-old children when a man, Ismael Martinez, armed with a knife popped up in the back of their van.
Flugence’s husband, Charles, told KRTK that his wife said she struggled with Martinez, honked the horn and managed to call 911 while getting the knife.
Charles says his wife was cut on the chest and bit on the hand during the struggle.
Police say the woman ran her van intentionally off the road trying to disorient the attacker. She was hoping that a 911 dispatcher would hear what was going on, and find a way to send help.
But when she saw a telephone pole, she sped up and targeted it, feeling it was a risk she had to take.
“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,'” Dorothy Baker-Flugence said. “That’s all I was thinking of really, was just to get him away from my kids.”
According to KRTK, police add that Baker-Flugence punched the man in the face and when she stopped, he jumped out of the vehicle. That’s when she reportedly turned the tables and ran over him.
“She got into a struggle with the man while trying to protect her children,” said Lt. Eric Freed with the Baytown police. “She actually overpowered him. At some point in time, he jumped from the vehicle and was run over by the vehicle.”
Baker-Flugence says while she ran over the man intentionally, she only wanted to stop him, not intending to seriously harm him.
Martinez was taken by Life Flight to the hospital with serious injuries to his back. He was listed in stable condition Friday night and is expected to face serious charges. Martinez’s criminal history includes rape and burglary convictions.
The children were unhurt in the incident, and their father is thankful for his wife’s actions.
“She’s my hero. I’ll take her anywhere. I’ll take her anywhere twice on Sunday,” Flugence said to KRTK. “She’s a tough one. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
