JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than a dozen bystanders are credited with helping prevent a potentially dangerous situation outside a Jacksonville DMV in March. 

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said a group of Good Samaritans intervened on March 12 after witnessing a man allegedly attempting to drive away in an SUV while a woman struggled to remove her two children—ages 2 years and 6 months—from the back seat.

Investigators said the man, later identified as 26-year-old Yanni Human, was driving off against the woman’s will. As she tried to stop the vehicle, both she and one of the children were dragged through the parking lot.

People nearby quickly stepped in, pulling the woman and children to safety before the driver fled the scene. Witnesses provided a description and license plate number to authorities on 911 calls. 

JSO’s District 6 Task Force officers arrested Human later that day outside a shopping center. He is charged with child abuse and false imprisonment, both felonies, as well as battery, possession of marijuana and resisting an officer without violence.