Clayton County police arrested a man accused of kidnapping a boy and hiding him in the trunk of a car Tuesday afternoon.
Charlie Woods, 54, was charged with cruelty to children and false imprisonment after police say he kidnapped his ex-girlfriend’s child and drove off.
Police said the kidnapping started in East Point and Woods drove to Clayton County.
A woman walking by a Clayton County Department of Driver Services office said her daughter saw the child continuously pop the trunk release to get air and close it quickly, Clayton County police spokeswoman Sgt. Ashanti Marbury said.
The woman told Channel 2 Action News she went to the trunk and asked the boy what he was doing, and the child responded a man told him to hide.
She helped the child get out of the trunk and waited for Woods to return, Marbury said. Woods drove off when he saw the boy escaped from the trunk.
The woman who found the boy called police, and the ex-boyfriend was arrested as he was speeding through the parking lot.
The boy’s mother had earlier told him to call police if her ex-boyfriend came around, according to Channel 2.
The boy was not injured.
Temperatures had been in the upper 70s in much of metro Atlanta Tuesday morning.
Woods told Channel 2 he was innocent, repeating “I didn’t do it.”
He was also charged with reckless driving and reckless conduct.
Police said the mother’s quick thinking made a difference in the case
“I have an 8 year old son myself so it really scared me,” the mother said.
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