Mother describes ordeal after alleged carjacking with toddler inside; Good Samaritans rush to help

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - Tamara Richardson said her nightmare started after she stopped to fix a seat belt that was hanging loose from her car's back door. It was Monday night and she, and her 2-year-old son Marco, were driving on Saratoga Avenue in Northeast, D.C. Tamara had pulled over and gotten out of the car to walk around to the back while Marco sat inside in his car seat. She said she opened the back door to fix the belt, and in that split-second, a man jumped into the driver's seat and pulled off.

Tamara started yelling and giving chase when two Good Samaritans, who had seen what just happened, pulled up in their car and she jumped in.

Jacqueline Elliott, Donnita Scott along with Tamara followed the car for several blocks. When they lost sight of her vehicle at a stop sign, Tamara told FOX 5's Bob Barnard that she thought they had lost the driver.

"I really thought we had lost him," she said. "But when we turned that corner and went over the hill, there was my car." She told Barnard that as she ran to her car she saw the alleged carjacker, identified by police as 21-year-old Matthew Walker, walking away. She said Marco was safe and unharmed.

"I just couldn't stop hugging and kissing him - just being thankful for the cops and for the girls," she said. "If it wasn't for them…I just wished them many, many blessings…every single cop and each one of those girls.

Police arrested Walker shorlty after the incident. He has been charged with kidnapping and unarmed carjacking.

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