Police were investigating after a baby sitter said a "crazy" looking shirtless man tried to snatch a 4-month-old she was caring for out of a stroller and witnesses held him down until police arrived in San Bernardino Tuesday.
"I think he's crazy," Carmen Perez, the baby sitter, said. "I don't think he knows what he's doing or maybe he wants to scare me and he did."
Perez said Tuesday morning, she had just loaded the baby girl named Chloe into the stroller in the 1400 block of North D Street.
Out of nowhere, she said a man she didn't know ran up and grabbed the stroller, the San Bernardino Police Department confirmed.
"I have to do something. I was scared," Perez said.
Using all of her strength, Perez held onto the stroller, refusing to let it go as the man pushed her to the ground — all the while she is screaming and the baby is crying.
She said there was no way she would give up the baby.
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The man gave up and ran off, but witness who saw the struggle followed him.
Police said he changed his clothes, trying to alter his identity.
"I followed him down to this area down here, and that's when I told him to have a seat," Martin Aguilar said.
Aguilar is a security guard who works nearby. He said he took action after witnesses told him what had just happened.
Martin struggled with the man before finally pinning him down and handcuffing him.
"Basically, he was pretty mad about it," Aguilar said. "He was just speaking a lot of nonsense. He said it was Christmas last night, and why are we doing this to him."
San Bernardino police identified the suspect as 35-year-old Edgar Valdez, and arrested him on suspicion of attempted kidnapping and child endangerment.
Police called Perez a hero for fighting him off and protecting Chloe.
"I think the assumption was that she was the mother the way she held onto that child and protected it," Lt. Richard Lawhead said.
Perez suffered abrasions to her arm and leg, but most importantly, Chloe wasn't hurt at all.
"I feel like she's my own," Perez said. "She's a really cute happy baby."
