"I'm going to get myself out of this": Student who escaped kidnapping speaks out
RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. -- A 20-year-old college student is sharing her story after she was robbed at gunpoint by three men in South Carolina, CBS affiliate WLTX-TV in Columbia reports.
"I instantly started screaming, and they pushed me to the ground, and shoved a gun towards me, and told me that if I didn't shut up that they would shoot me," said the woman, identified only as Jordan.
One of the suspects fled the scene, while two others forced her to drive her car -- because the robbers were unable to drive stick shift.
She said, "I was asking them, 'Why I can't just leave? Why can't you just leave me here?' And they said that I had to come with [them] to get money out of the ATM."'
As she drove to her bank's ATM, she thought about ways to escape.
"Then they said that I was going to be sexually assaulted by them as well, so at that point, I decided that it's time, and I need to get myself out of this situation," she said.
She said she was inspired by stories of her mother's own bravery and made the decision to jump out of the vehicle.
"I just saw my opportunity. I threw it in to neutral, and just opened the door, and fell out," she said.
"I thought back to my mom. She was almost a victim of sexual assault when she was in college, and she fought back and fought the man off, and I thought that I am going to be strong like my mom, and I'm going to get myself out of this," she said.
Jordan was lucky enough to escape the situation with a few cuts and bruises. She credits her criminal justice coursework at the University of South Carolina for her critical thinking skills.
"I always think in my head [that] if I was in this position, would I be able to keep a cool head? Would I be able to get out of it? And I kind of wanted to prove to myself that I could," she admitted.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott is calling the 20-year-old "James Bond" for her quick thinking and survival skills.
On Thursday, police arrested 17-year-old Raquan Green along with a 15-year-old male, who was not identified, in connection with the kidnapping, Lott told reporters.
The teens are also accused of robbing delivery drivers and kidnapping residents on at least seven separate occasions this month.
After the arrests, suspects told police that they "do not like white people" and they were only going to target white residents, Lott told reporters. "The one African-American victim they had, they apologized to her, and did not want her," Lott said.
The third suspect, another 15-year-old male, was taken into custody on Friday, WIS-TV reports.
