FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — A 5-year-old girl in Flagler County is safe at home after the Sheriff's Office says deputies recovered a car she was inside of that was stolen from a gas station.
Deputies were called to a domestic disturbance at the Circle K gas station on Palm Coast Parkway Wednesday, where a woman said she was in a physical altercation with her childhood friend, identified as Andrew Allen, the sheriff's office said. Allen drove off with the woman's 5-year-old daughter in her white Dodge Journey, according to deputies.
The woman said she had been driving and Allen was a passenger when they arrived at the gas station, and she exited the vehicle when Allen went inside the gas station, according to the sheriff's office. When Allen came out of the gas station, he jumped in the driver's seat and locked the vehicle with the child still inside, deputies said, then drove to the other side of the gas station parking lot.
Deputies said the mother approached the vehicle when it stopped and asked Allen to unlock the doors, which he finally did. The woman told deputies she grabbed her purse and belongings before Allen exited the vehicle and shoved the woman to the ground, according to the sheriff's office.
Allen got back into the vehicle and drove away on Belle Terre Parkway with the child still in the back seat, according to deputies. The woman said although she and Allen had been friends since childhood, he did not have permission to take her car or her child.
Deputies found the vehicle at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Commerce Boulevard and conducted a traffic stop. Allen was arrested and charged with kidnapping, grand theft of a motor vehicle and simple battery, deputies said. He is being held without bond.
The child was recovered safely, according to the sheriff's office.
Scroll down to view bodycam footage of the traffic stop and recovery.