SPRINGFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - A Springfield couple is credited with helping police track down the suspect vehicle wanted in connection to the abduction of an 11-year-old girl that triggered an Amber Alert Wednesday night.
Amanda Disley and husband Benny Correa were out picking up take out when they recognized Miguel Rodriguez’s blue Honda Civic at a stop sign from posts shared on Facebook regarding the abduction of the girl.
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“I said, ‘Yo, babe that’s that car. That’s that car! I seen that car, you showed me that car, that’s the car,'” Correa recalled.
Correa and Disley immediately called 911 and began tailing the suspect vehicle, sometimes topping speeds of more than 100 mph.
“I flashed my high beams and the guy pulls up his hood and covers his face and started to dart up Harvey Street and I darted right behind him,” Correa said.
Intense video shot by the couple, shows the scene unfold in real-time. They can be heard yelling, “it’s him, it’s him” to the 911 dispatcher as their engine revs to keep up with the car in front.
“My husband reversed on the main road, we blocked him,” Disley said. “He jumped over a curb and that’s when the high beams flashed right into his driver and I saw his complete face. He threw the hood back over his face and I saw someone in the backseat pushing someone down. And that’s when we knew this is it. This is him.”
The couple said they followed for as long as they could — reluctant to let the suspect get away.
The video captures their anxiety with Correa shouting, “He just blew through that red light,” and Disley screaming on the phone, “He’s going through red lights, he’s going through red lights!”
While speaking to the media Wednesday night, State Police Lt. Charles Murray credited the couple and other motorists with aiding in the search.
“We’re eternally grateful to the motorist who paid attention to the Amber Alert and called and reported seeing the vehicle. There were a number of those calls,” Murray said. “They made this rescue possible.”
Troopers stopped the suspect car in the area of Sturbridge and located the girl inside, State Police Lt. Bob Ackerman added. He was taken out at gunpoint.
Springfield police say they do not recommend that anyone chase after a criminal suspect but in this case, Disley and Correa’s heroic actions turned out to be a big help in the race against time to find the girl.
They say this was the first verified sighting of the suspect in the victim — happening hours after she was taken off the street.
Rodriguez was arraigned Thursday morning in Springfield District Court on a number of charges stemming from this incident.
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