California kidnapper caged woman in van until rescue caught on video, Alabama cops say

Alabama police rescued a woman who was kidnapped, but later saved after a witness told police a “black male driving a white van kidnapped a white female at knife point,” Brookfield police said in a news release.

Police received the call close to 3 p.m. on Dec. 29 from a witness who saw a woman being taken, authorities said.

The woman screamed for help as the suspect forced her into his van and fled the scene.

Police said the witness “followed the vehicle giving police dispatch the vehicle description, direction of travel and tag number” and two officers “observed the van passing Sharon Heights Baptist church where the suspect rammed a witness vehicle.”

The officers tried to stop the suspect’s van, but the suspect continued to flee and a chase began, police said.

Officers blocked the suspect’s van in and noticed the victim “bleeding from her head being held against her will and forced to the floorboard by the suspect,” according to police. While trying to get inside the van, the suspect fought with police and “rammed a police unit fleeing the scene,” police said.

Police conducted a roadblock, trapping the suspect, however, he tried to flee, nearly striking an officer with his van. The officer “shot into the suspect vehicle disabling the vehicle as it drove into the front yard of a nearby residence,” police said.

The suspect “crawled into the back of the van with the victim and held the victim at knife point barricaded in the rear of the van,” police said. After more than 30 minutes of negotiating, tactical response units and other law enforcement officials arrived to the scene.

“Fearing immediate danger to the victim Brookside tactical officers breeched the rear of the suspect vehicle, tased the suspect and made entry into the front of the vehicle to engage the suspect, while JCSO (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office) Deputies assisted with the rescue of the victim,” police reported.

The suspect, identified as Sean E. Sanders of Los Angeles, Calif., “was taken into custody while still inside the van,” police noted.

The van “was barricaded with a cage in the back, wire cages over the windows, with blankets covering the inside preventing anyone from seeing inside. The doors were also chained shut from the inside,” police noted.

The victim and witness told police Sanders “was attempting to drag the female victim into the woods along Brookside Coalburg Rd with the intent to kill her when the witness stopped and encountered the suspect. The suspect then fled as the witness followed while calling 911.”

The victim suffered “serious physical injury with cuts to the head and face as the suspect struck her in the head multiple times with a tire iron,” according to police. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition, police said.

Sanders “criminal history is extensive,” police said, and charges against him will be “announced as the investigation continues.”