Boy opens up about how he was 'scared and shaking' before evading potential kidnapper

A schoolboy whose quick thinking helped him to evade a potential kidnapper has opened up about the ordeal.

Sammy Green, 10, a fourth grader from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, knew something was up when a stranger began following him on his way home from school last Friday (11 November).

But he was able to think quickly enough to jump into his favourite shop and ask the cashier, Hannah Daniels - who was just 17 - to pretend to be his mum.

Thankfully, she agreed and was able to put herself between Sammy and his potential kidnapper, who waited by the door for him to leave the shop.

The whole thing was captured on CCTV footage and both Sammy and Daniels have received praise for their actions.

Recounting the incident to Good Morning America, he said: "She was talking about like, 'I'm going to Wawa. Are you going to Wawa? What would you get from Wawa?' And she was like, 'Where's your family at?'"

Sammy explained that he immediately knew something was wrong and that he had to put on his thinking cap in order to get out of the situation.

"I was scared and shaking, so I was thinking something really fast," he said.

It was then that he remembered his father's advice: "If you're getting followed, just don't trust them. Just act casual and go by any adult."

"I told her, Hannah, that she's been following me for a while," he remembered. "And said, 'I'm going to act like you're my mom.' And she said, 'OK'."

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Daniels, meanwhile, said she initially thought the woman was Sammy's mum when he came into the local store, Dani Bee Funky.

"I just thought of a regular interaction with a mother and [her] son," she said. "But the woman stood in the doorway, kind of hanging there, and I could tell she wasn't coherent."

The teenager remembered telling Sammy that he could wait in the back of the shop while she dealt with the woman, but he was so frightened that he refused to leave her side.

Sam Green, Sammy's dad, said that he found the whole thing difficult to watch but he was proud of his son for following his advice.

He told WPVI: "I cried every time I saw it."

Sammy is now taking no chances and has a family friend walk him home from school after the incident.

The woman has since been located and referred for psychiatric help.

Pottstown Police Department did not have any additional comment for Tyla.