Nicolas Sternaman: Chilling video shows man attempting to abduct a child in broad daylight inside a Miami Beach pharmacy

MIAMI, FLORIDA: A chilling video shows a Florida father bravely fighting off an abductor who attempted to kidnap his child in broad daylight inside a Miami Beach pharmacy on Thursday, February 8. 

At around 11.55 am, the suspected kidnapper, identified as Nicolas Sternaman, had just made his way into the CVS on Collins Avenue, just as the four-year-old boy and his parents were exiting the building.

Nicholas Sternaman reportedly grabbed the child by the neck

According to WPLG, as the boy's mother walked out of door, the 26-year-old creep hunched over and allegedly grabbed the child by the neck, lifted him, and attempted to flee the store. The quick thinking father grabbed Sternaman while the woman pulled her child out of the alleged kidnapper’s clutches, store surveillance video obtained by the outlet showed.

The boy had fallen to the floor as his father wrestled with Sternaman for several seconds, at one point ripping the criminal's black jacket off. The child’s mother picked the boy up as the father slammed the abductor onto the store’s glass door.

What did the witnesses say?

A crowd of bystanders began to form and the enraged father pulled back his arm with a closed fist before he seemingly exchanged words with Sternaman who walked out the door. “Everyone was just shocked because it was so quick and it was so fast. The guy just came out of nowhere,” witness Zachary Jefferson told CBS Miami.

Sternaman ran from the store but was chased by the boy’s father and another shopper.

What charges does Nicholas Sternaman face?

Miami Beach police arrested Sternaman three blocks away from the store, according to Local10. The child was left visibly shaking and would not let go of his mother’s grasp, according to CBS Miami, citing a police report. Sternaman was charged with kidnapping a child under 13, aggravated assault, and battery, jail records show. He is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Sternaman had been arrested on a petit theft charge in early January, according to court records. 

This comes after an 11-year-old Arizona girl narrowly escaped a suspected kidnapping last month as she walked to school, shocking surveillance video showed. The girl was making her way to Sunset Elementary School in Glendale at around 8 am on January 26 when the suspect, identified as Joseph Leroy Ruiz, pulled his car next to the sidewalk and started his chase.

But, the fifth-grader noticed the man following her and began running and screaming for “help.” Police said the suspected kidnapper chased after her for a short distance before he was scared off and returned to his car to drive away.