Parents fight carjacker to save their baby girl in backseat

Video: Car thief takes off with baby on board

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   >>> with and heroic young couple. they were on the road when their car was stole within their little baby girl inside. and surveillance cams catch the whole thing, their fight to save that little girl .

   >> reporter: aaron and melanie richman watched as a man slipped into their car and peeled out with their 6-month-old daughter strapped in the back seat.

   >> if we didn't act immediately, we would never see her again.

   >> if he would have gotten out of that parking lot , it's pretty much signing her death certificate.

   >> reporter: the richman family was on the last leg of their move from denver to kansas city , on this surveillance video, you can see melanie putting baby samantha in the car while arron is standing out of camera view.

   >> we turned around, took a couple of steps away from the car toward the moving truck. and all that time the carjacker was belining towards the car.

   >> reporter: as the assailant backs out of view of the camera, melanie manages to break the passenger window with her elbow while aaron jumps in.

   >> the best i can describe it is a spring loaded swan dive into the passenger seat floor.

   >> reporter: meanwhile melanie won't let go.

   >> reporter: as the car speeds off with aaron and the baby inside, melanie losing her grip, hitting her head on the pavement. that's melanie 's brother running after the car.

   >> i just start kicking him on the right side and saying, my baby's in this car, get out of my car, you're stealing my car.

   >> reporter: seconds later the carjacker slammeded into an embankment, got out and fled. although the suspect is still on the loose, baby samantha and her parents have learned the true meaning of what it means to hold on for dear life . kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago.

   >> mel laanie and aaron richman are here. i'm looking at the bruise on your arm, is that from the window or the pavement.

   >> the window.

   >> we go back to this video for a second, you guys had just stepped a few feet away from the car after you had strapped samantha inside, you're standing next to the moving van with other people in there, did you see this guy approaching the car?

   >> no.

   >> you never did?

   >> he was in our blind spot the whole time. we never saw him at all.

   >> the first thing you realize, you see your car backing up.

   >> how far did you have to run to grab on to that car?

   >> a couple of steps.

   >> just two steps?

   >> just a few.

   >> the first motion you make is your bust that window?

   >> i needed a little momentum, so my husband gave me a little shove and helped me out.

   >> that's not easy to do to break a window with your elbow, so that took some force. and that eels all y's all you needed you dove into the front seat of that car. you don't know if this guy is armed or anything.

   >> that never crossed my mind, my goal was to get in there and get him out.

   >> you have already gotten in that car, you had to right yourself, get sbointo the seat so you could get in a position to go after him. describe what's happening inside that car.

   >> as soon as i jumped into the window, i kind of did a 108 so i'm sitting on the seat, facing him.

   >> kind of like you're facing melanie ?

   >> basically, but my head's toward the floor of the car and that's when i started just kicking him on the right side of his face as hard as i could.

   >> was he saying anything at all?

   >> he didn't say anything at all.

   >> he said one thing, as soon as the car had run over the embankment and ran off, he looked over to my brother.

   >> you're hanging from the side of that car as it's now speeding through the parking lot and you fell off and hit pretty hard. you hit your head, did you have any injuries?

   >> no, just had a bump.

   >> so he runs off now and what was samantha 's state of mind in the car?

   >> as soon as i put the car in park, i realized she was screaming, i couldn't hear her at all. i just ran to our mother-in-law and gave her to my mother-in-law.

   >> i know you both are still pretty traumatized by this. this was mentioned in the piece t guy who tried to steal your car was not captured. does that worry you?

   >> i'm terrified of the dark, i'm afraid that he may want revenge or i'm just scared of creepers and everything now.

   >> and for me, it just -- i have my guard up 120% of the time now. there's no rest for me basically. i have to make sure my family's safe at all times.

   >> when you look back at the tape and you can watch this thing play out in real time . would you do anything differently now that you have a chance to view it in hindsight, 20/20.

   >> i would have not left the keys in the car, we couldn't have stepped away for a few minutes, we would have done everything differently. but i am grateful that what we did, we did it fast and we did it instinctively.

   >> everybody asks the question if in a moment of emergency, how would we react? we have all asked ourselves that question. did you think you had this type of thing in you?

   >> not at all.

   >> so this is the power of parenthood?

   >> i think so.

   >> it kicks in, it really does.

   >> you are a lucky young lady . she's adorable. she's going to have some story to be told a little bit later on, isn't she.

   >> definitely.

   >> aaron and smelanie, samantha , it

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