Man credited with saving girl recounts role in foiled Sterling Heights kidnapping – Macomb Daily
By Julia Cardi
The Detroit News
Last Tuesday, Scott VanLuven was driving home from work at the Stellantis assembly plant in Sterling Heights along Riverland Drive as usual and stopped, as he often does, to have his truck washed.
However, he believes that this time it may have happened for a reason because the timing put him at the right moment in Clinton River North Park.
VanLuven helped stop the attempted kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl, and his intervention turned a potential nightmare into relief for her family. But he told the Detroit News on Friday he didn’t know a kidnapping was in progress at the time.
VanLuven had noticed a woman—the little girl’s aunt, it turned out—hanging out the driver’s window of a car slowly rolling toward the park’s entrance, gripping the steering wheel to prevent the driver from leaving.
A man allegedly approached the 7-year-old girl, pulled her off her bike and put her in his car, according to the Macomb County District Attorney’s Office. The aunt noticed the kidnapping attempt, ran to stop it and struggled with the kidnapper, according to a review of a video released by police.
The car backed up and VanLuven said he saw it hit a young boy – the woman’s son. VanLuven said he rushed to block the car with his truck, an action caught on video. VanLuven pulled the driver out and held him against the car until police arrived.
The alleged kidnapper, 23-year-old Endi Bala, is charged with child abduction, reckless driving and assault in Sterling Heights. If convicted, he faces life in prison. Bala is also suspected of trying to force a 15-year-old girl into his car on Clinton River Road, east of Hayes, in the early afternoon. Someone intervened to help the girl escape and alert other residents, who called 911, according to the Macomb County District Attorney’s Office.
If VanLuven hadn’t stopped to have his truck washed that day, he would have missed the entire incident, he said. He has been with the volunteer police force Citizens on Patrol for 14 years, but was off duty at the time.
“Everyone tells me God put me there back then,” he told The News.
VanLuven said his immediate instinct was to react when he saw the woman hanging out of the car and he knew he had to step in. He urges other people to be aware of their surroundings and not be afraid to help others in need.
For VanLuven, watching police-released footage of the incident was surreal because he had no memory of opening the door to pull the driver out.
“It all happened so fast,” he said. “The adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I had no idea I had done that.”
VanLuven reunited with the little girl and her family on Friday. He said he understands that everyone needs time to process what happened, especially the children, but he said the family appears to be doing well. He hopes to stay in touch with them and check on the children.
“What they went through is certainly not easy for a small child,” said VanLuven, the grandfather of a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old.
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