I can’t be the only mom who runs down ways I might potentially protect my children should a threat suddenly present itself. If a car jumps the curb, I can snatch my toddler by the arm and yank him out of harm’s way. If my daughter walks too close to the edge of the bed, I can grab her by the leg or ankle before she falls off. Thankfully, I haven’t had to implement any of these contingency plans. But for a mother in Oregon, when a strange man tried to abduct her child, she had to move quickly and effectively to get her back in her arms safely.
On April 29, 2025, Scottie Grimes was getting ready to drop off her 23-month-old daughter, Sonnett, at preschool, Atlanta Black Star reported. Around 8 a.m., her toddler was sitting in her stroller on the side of their home and Grimes stepped back inside her house to collect some of her belongings. Grimes said she was in the house for less than a minute. Still, when she came outside, her daughter was gone.
Grimes ran out into the street and saw a man pushing the stroller with her daughter inside. Grimes ran to catch up to the strange man. “I was just screaming, ‘My baby! My baby! My baby!'” she told KATU. “I whipped it over to the side to get it away from him in case he tried to make a run with my kid.” Then she struck. “I just decked him in the face and was like, ‘I’m calling the cops!'” she said.
The suspect ran off, and he is still at large. Neither Grimes nor her daughter was injured. Grimes said the suspect was a Caucasian man in his 50s. She said he’s 6 feet tall, 250 pounds. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a black beanie, a black zip-up sweatshirt and black jeans. He was also wearing a black surgical mask.
After the incident, Grimes posted about it on social media, according to KOIN. One of her neighbors claimed a man wearing all black was following her daughter on the same day as the attempted abduction.
Police searched the area but were unable to locate the man. They also looked for security footage in the area, but apparently there was none.
Portland Police Sgt. Kevin Allen commended Grimes for her bravery, KGW reported. “That’s one of the more amazing things about this that she was able to get up there and physically intervene. That’s very dangerous, but certainly as a parent, I think any of us would do the same thing,” he shared.
Grimes has found the whole incident unsettling. “I’m always pretty guarded, but I also do generally believe that most people are good. When things like this happen so close to home, it makes me question that,” she said, per KATU.
