ATLANTA — Two people who helped save a baby from being kidnapped while on the Atlanta BeltLine last week said Tuesday that they didn’t have time to think or be afraid; they jumped in to help, instantly and instinctively.
It was Thursday, April 21, at about 11:00 a.m., on a stretch of the Beltline near Ponce City Market and North Avenue, NE, when they witnessed a man attacking the woman and baby.
“This man was attacking her and the baby, four months old,” said Terri Duda, describing the moment when she was riding her bicycle on the trail, as she often does, and saw the baby and woman--the child's babysitter--just ahead of her, being assaulted.
The woman was “screaming and yelling, ‘This man is attacking me!’” Duda said.
She instantly intervened, as did another bicyclist.
“A gentleman in a bright, yellow, fluorescent jersey reached into his back jersey pocket and pulled out pepper spray,” Duda said, speaking of Gordon Ragan.
“It was just a split second, really,” Ragan said.
He remembers that when he saw the man trying to grab the baby’s stroller and heard the woman’s screams, he drove his bicycle directly between them, forcing the man to back away from the woman and baby.
“It was just like, I look up and it's happening and then I'm on them,” Ragan said.
He and Duda said that when the man saw Ragan pull out the pepper spray, the man took off down the BeltLine.
Ragan followed him, while Duda stayed with the woman and baby, and called 911.
“I told her, you know, 'I'm going to stay with you,'” she said. “We were alone for a good 15 minutes, and I told her to breathe. And I called 911 and she called her boss... the mom of the baby, who came. I just kind of stayed with the nanny and kind of soothing her, and just calming her down and letting her know she did a great job. Because she really did. I mean, she called attention to it and let the people know that she was there protecting the baby.”
Ragan followed the man to the nearby Kroger supermarket, and found two security officers and a retired Fulton County Police officer. He pointed out the man to them, told them what he’d just witnessed the man do, and they held the man until police arrived.
“It seemed like everyone was jumping in to help,” Ragan said. “And that made me feel good.”
He and Duda both remember several others on the BeltLine that morning trying to assist the woman and baby, and keep eyes on the man until police arrived.
“She was so grateful they got him,” Duda said. “I just appreciate humanity and how everyone came together in that moment to help this woman. And I just feel proud to be a part of that.”
She and Ragan had never met before the incident, and haven’t talked with each other since. They’re both back riding their bikes on the BeltLine.
“I'm more cautious,” Duda said. “I purchased my own pepper spray online yesterday. I don't go in the parts of Piedmont Park that are a little more isolated. So, I'm more cautious and nervous. I'm still going to enjoy it. But, yeah, it made me have second thoughts.”
Ragan said he’s since thought about what he did--confronting the woman’s attacker without thinking about his own safety--realizing he never gave a thought as to whether the man might have been armed with a gun.
He smiled, saying he and his wife had a long talk afterwards.
“Yeah, my wife is not quite as happy about it. I know she's happy for the woman, and the baby in the stroller, but she's given me a couple of evil eyes about, you know, ‘We don't want you getting killed,’ and stuff. So, you know, it makes me stop to think. But the thing was, a couple of other guys walked up, and then a third guy walked up,” Ragan said. However, he said he and his wife have no doubts at all that he would do it all again the same way if it were ever necessary.
The baby's mother told 11Alive News that her son and his nanny are okay. As soon as the mother arrived on the scene, the baby and nanny got the all clear from emergency responders without either of them having to be transported to a hospital, and they went home safe and sound.
"I'm so grateful for the courageous and kind people who helped my son and his nanny," the mother told 11Alive. "I hope as a community we stay vigilant and continue to look out for each other."
The man arrested was charged with a felony--attempted kidnapping. Police are not saying, yet, what his motive might have been.