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Sammy Green: Boy, 10, reveals how dad's advice helped him 'think fast' when he tricked woman stalking him

Green described his feelings at the time of the incident as 'scared and shaking', and added 'I was thinking something really fast'
UPDATED NOV 18, 2022
Sammy Green began to shake and felt scared when the strange woman approached him (Youtube/FOX 29 Philadelphia)
Sammy Green began to shake and felt scared when the strange woman approached him (Youtube/FOX 29 Philadelphia)

POTTSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA: Sammy Green, keeping his father's advice about how to find an adult at times of trouble in mind, slyly dodged a potential kidnapping when he ducked into a nearby store. Green, a 10-year-old boy, has recently spoken up about how it felt to raise awareness about such situations. 

"She was talking about like, 'I'm going to Wawa. Are you going to Wawa? What would you get from Wawa?'" Green told Good Morning America. "And she was like, 'Where's your family at?" This woman approached Green, a fourth-grader from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, as he was walking home from school on Friday, November 11. She tried to entice him to turn around by offering to buy him food from a convenience store. The woman can be seen following him in surveillance footage just before he entered his favorite local store, Dani Bee Funky. Green explained that he began to feel uneasy because he sensed something was strange about their interaction.

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Green described his feelings at the time as "scared and shaking," and added, "I was thinking something really fast." It was at that moment that he recalled the lesson his father had told him, "If you're getting followed, just don't trust them. Just act casual and go by any adult." Green dashed inside Dani Bee Funky and approached the counter to ask Hannah Daniels, the only adult he could see, for help. While the stranger waited outside the door, he spoke to her in a whisper. He requested the cashier, Daniels, 17, to pose as his mother since he was being followed while the stranger remained outside.

Green said, "I told her, Hannah, that she's been following me for a while. And said, 'I'm going to act like you're my mom.' And she said, 'OK.'" Daniels admitted to 'Good Morning America' that she didn't even notice what was going on as she had initially assumed the boy was with his mother. Daniels said, "I just thought of a regular interaction with a mother and [her] son. But the woman stood in the doorway, kind of hanging there, and I could tell she wasn't coherent." The woman was still holding the door open when the teenage cashier quickly intervened between Sammy and her.

Daniels recalled telling Green to wait in the back while she dealt with the woman during her interview with CBS Philadelphia about the horrific event, but he urged on not leaving her side. She calmly approached the open door and closed and secured it. This eventually caused the woman to leave. Green and Daniels were lauded for preventing what might have led to a kidnapping that day. Green's father, Sam Green, expressed his pride in his kid as he told Good Morning America, "I'm just so proud of my son for doing what he did." Following the incident, Green now has a family friend accompany him as he returns from school.

Over the weekend, the Pottstown Police Department discovered the woman, who has now been referred for mental health care. The family has decided not to file charges, but Sam hopes that by sharing his family's experience, other parents may be inspired to talk to their kids about what to do if they are ever contacted by a stranger. "Think of every scenario and make sure that children know and also practice it. Practice your situations and scenarios just like fire drills," Sam said. 

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