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American Morning

Ways Kids Can Resist or Escape Abductors

Aired July 17, 2002 - 09:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The story out of California that's continuing to get a lot of attention is the kidnapping of that 5-year- old girl on Monday night. It's yet another awful reminder of how vulnerable children are. Five-year-old Samantha Runnion was right in front of home when she was abducted. And Bob Stuber, a former police officer and founder of the Escape School, says even very young children can actually learn to resist and escape an abductor.

Bob joins us this morning from Sacramento, California.

Bob, welcome back. Who's your friend there?

BOB STUBER, ESCAPE SCHOOL: This is Sydney (ph), Paula. She's been in the Escape School program and gone through, and she will help me demonstrate some of the techniques this morning.

ZAHN: Before we get to techniques though, let's review the circumstances of what Samantha was up against. This pathetic man who came into her neighborhood, apparently got out of his car, approached her and a friend, and said he needed some help in looking for a puppy. What are the other obvious enticement abductors use in situations like these?

STUBER: You know, it's unfortunate, but you can use -- and we've done these for television shows. You can use almost anything. Children are so much wanting to be validated. They want to help. They want to be helpful to adults. They see a picture of a puppy dog, it throws them off. We've actually done this, and enticed children away, just telling them we lost a watch, and we'll give them $5 if they help us find it.

They're very, very trusting. And this is something that parents really have to get down on and start driving that message home, is that you don't walk away with anybody. If they need help, they will get it from another adult.

ZAHN: So you also say, unfortunately, if the kids haven't been trained to do that, the most likely next step they will end up in some kind of car. And you truly believe you can train children to not let this happen.

STUBER: Yes, we can. There's techniques. All the way along in a crime like this, there's these little windows of opportunity. And if the child knows what to watch for, it really only takes about two of these choices to get them out of danger. It starts outside of the car. If those don't work, once you're in the car, there's things you can do, but you always need something that you can try.

ZAHN: Why don't you show us some of those techniques now?

STUBER: Absolutely. Sydney is going to help me. The first one we call the velcro technique. And the reason this is important, if a child is in trouble and they run to another adult to get help, sometimes they won't get that help unless they are aggressive. So instead of just asking for help, we tell them to stick like velcro. Sydney's (ph) grabbing my arm. She is going to hold me. Now I'm involved in her situation. She'll tell me what she wants, and I will pay attention.

There's another one we call the windmill technique. If somebody is bigger and stronger than you, has a ahold of you, like in this case, Sydney couldn't pull away from me. But if she rotates her arm forward in a big circle -- do that Sydney (ph) -- just like that. I can't hold on to her. She turns my hand inside out, and puts me in a position where I'm the weakest.

And the third one for outside of the car has to do with the bicycle. If she was on her bicycle or any child on a bike, somebody tried to grab them off of it, if they couldn't run away, the trick is to hold the bike, hug the bike like she's too doing. She's too big and too bulky to put in any type of a vehicle. And she can hold that bike tight. The guy trying to get her has to work fast. So she's not going to sit and pry around on her too long. He's going to go somewhere else.

Those are three great ones for outside the car. Now we can go inside, and I'll show you a couple for that.

ZAHN: Those ones were so simple, something a lot of us haven't thought about who have kids.

STUBER: It's very simple. It's all about common sense. It's all about taking advantage of little opportunities as they present themselves. And it isn't very hard for a child to do.

If you're inside of a car, you start with the easy things first. Now, remember, if you're not telling your child what to do, they will do what the bad guy says. The first thing I tell her is to open the door and get out. Seems like it simple, but if I don't tell her to do that, she doesn't have permission to do it. But what if the front door is messed up, what if she can't get out that door.

If it's a four-door car, she can jump into the backseat. Sydney, jump into the backseat and go out the back door really quickly.

ZAHN: But, Bob,what if she's being threatened as this all is happening? She still has to move.

STUBER: Absolutely. Good question. In these type of crimes, the child is not going to get hurt at this point. This guy wants to get away. He wants to get out somewhere by himself. He may threaten the child, but he's not going to hurt the child right there. That's not what this is about. That takes place later. So the child needs to react. If you can stop the car or you can stop this in the neighborhood, then the crime is going to come to an end.

ZAHN: Are there any other things these young kids can try if they find themselves in these horrible situation?

STUBER: There are. There's lots of things. I'll show you one more inside the car. If the child has a chance, they can put something in the ignition cylinder, where the key goes in. It can be a stick. It can be a button off their clothing. Bubble gum even works. Once they do that, they can't get the key back in. If you can't get the key in to start the car, this isn't going to go any further, and that's the key to the whole thing, stopping it.

ZAHN: That's another smart one. I think the most important thing that I've heard you say, though, is these kids should make an awful lot of noise at the very beginning of this whole process, right?

STUBER: Absolutely.

ZAHN: Even though someone says keep quiet. What they've got to do is scream at the top of their lungs.

STUBER: Absolutely. And I'll tell what works good for making noise is a whistle. Sometimes you can yell and scream and people may not pay attention, but if you blow a whistle like this one right here, you blow it real hard and real loud, everybody turns to watch, you attract attention your way, makes all the difference in the world.

ZAHN: You opened the trunk. Why?

STUBER: Well, I want to show you something in the trunk. That's not an uncommon place to be put in this type of a crime. Inside this trunk, you can kick, and scream and holler, and nobody is going to see you, nobody is going to hear you. But if you disconnect the taillights -- now there's a panel in the back corner of just about every car. Anybody can pull that panel off. Inside are the wires. If you pull those wires, you disconnect the brake and taillights. Now you increased the odds 50 percent that the police will pull the car over because it has not brake or tail lights, then they will hear you inside.

It's just about being smart and making the most of each opportunity.

ZAHN: Well, you've given us all a lot of think about, and important things to pass along to our children. I'm glad that Sydney has gone through your course as able to walk us through that as well.

Bob Stuber, as always. Thank you for your insights.

STUBER: My pleasure.

ZAHN: Andy Sydney (ph), stay safe.

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