Police dashcam footage shows kidnapped woman's rescue
Dashcam footage shows the heart-stopping moment police rescue a kidnapped woman by pulling over her captor - after she got the attention of two teens in another vehicle by mouthing 'Help me'
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New dashcam footage shows the tense moment police pulled over a driver and rescued a kidnapped woman in the back seat.
The unidentified 25-year-old woman in a green dress was kidnapped by the driver, Charles Atkins Lewis Jr., leaving a downtown Dallas office building on August 25.
She was rescued after two teenagers saw her in the car and thought she was hot. After making eye contact with the captive woman, she mouthed 'Help me' and they knew something was wrong.
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Safe: The unidentified woman in the green dress was kidnapped leaving a downtown Dallas office building on August 25 and new dashcam footage shows her dramatic rescue
College student Aaron Arias, 19, and high schooler Jamal Harris, 17,called 911 and followed the car until police could respond and pull the man over.
The footage shows the car slowing down before police put on their lights and officially pulled the car over.
An officer walks up to the car and orders the driver to show his hands.
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Tense: The woman was rescued after making eye-contact with two teenagers in another car and mouthing the words 'Help me'
Arrested: The driver, Charles Atkins Lewis Jr., was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping. He is still in jail on $50,000 bond
He pulls the driver out of the vehicle and the woman in the back breaks down crying.
Another officer takes her out of the car and she can be seen in the video embracing him.
Speaking on CNN's New Day, the heroic teens explained that they were driving through Seagoville as they went to collect a friend from work when Harris spotted the woman in the car.
'I was looking at her thinking, "She's pretty beautiful",' Harris said, adding that he was trying to get his friend to look at her too.
Her saviors: Aaron Arias, left, and Jamal Harris, right, spoke with CNN about the moment they saw a woman in distress in the back of a car and called police, who saved her
'But I could tell from her facial expression that what she was telling me was very serious... She was mouthing "Help me".'
He told Arias what he was seeing but the friend was skeptical and said he needed to focus on driving.
But Arias also became suspicious when the light switched to green and the car took off too fast.
Then he saw the woman hitting the back window to get their attention - so decided to follow them. They called 911 and frantically recounted what they had witnessed.
'I'm on the highway,' Arias tells the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office dispatcher in the recording.
'I'm witnessing a robbery; not a robbery - a kidnapping.
'It's me and another guy, so we're checking out the girl in the backseat because we're like, "OK, she's kind of attractive",' Arias told the operator in the dramatic call. 'And then, all of the sudden the guy is turned back, looking at us.'
Lucky: They were driving to collect a friend when they stopped at a light and looked over to see the woman
Chase: Arias and Harris followed the car for 12 minutes until police arrived and arrested the alleged kidnapper
Although both the teenagers said they would 'obviously' do the same again, they admitted they began to feel more nervous towards the end of the chase.
'Close to the end, he was slowing down and I was slowing down - he knew he was being followed,' Arias said.
'He could've done something to her or us.'
Officers were on the scene minutes later and pulled the car over.
'Thank God. You guys are awesome,' Arias told the dispatcher as police arrived on the scene. 'Oh my God. Oh my God. Get him! Oh my God.'
Little did the teenagers know the extent of the alleged kidnapping; NBC5 reported that police found a gun and knife inside the car when they apprehended her alleged captor, Charles Atkins Lewis Jr.
The woman had been kidnapped late on August 25 as she left a downtown Dallas office building.
Scene: She was snatched from this downtown block in Dallas on August 15 and forced into her own car. Lewis allegedly drove for more than 30 miles with her captive before he was pulled over by police
Lewis allegedly smacked her across the head with a pistol and forced her into her own car. He drove off and a few minutes later, he threw her cell phone from the window of the moving car.
They were eventually stopped by police officers nearly 40 miles away in Kaufman.
Arias, a Texas A&M freshman, followed them there with the dispatcher on the phone.
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ShareThe woman was checked by paramedics but was not hurt.
Arias said he met her after the rescue and she gave him a hug.
'I would describe it as the best hug I have ever gotten,' he told NBC.
Asked if he considered himself a hero, he said: 'She says we saved her life. I guess you could say we did. But I don't want to be that person who says they're a hero.'
Lewis remains in jail on $50,000 bond. He is charged with aggravated kidnapping.
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