Car theft is a scary thing in just about any format. However, when it’s something like your car being broken into when parked overnight, it can be more irritating than anything. In some cases, though, some thieves’ total disregard for safety or common sense can turn into a nightmare situation and end in a police chase. This story is undoubtedly one of those nightmare cases.

The thief stole the vehicle from a hotel parking lot

According to a local Denver Fox news station, the mother of the child and owner of the car had just taken her two-year-old child for a drive to try to put him to sleep. Just after midnight, the mother quickly ran into their hotel room, leaving the child in the car. Upon returning to the parking lot, she found that both the vehicle and her child were gone.

The mother called the police, who then released a notification to be on the lookout for the car. Thirty minutes after the call, police spotted the vehicle. As soon as the driver of the stolen vehicle, Rodriquez Porter, saw police approaching, he ran, starting a high-speed pursuit.

According to acting Aurora Police Chief Chris Juul, the pursuit did exceed speeds of 100 miles per hour. It was clearly identifying Porter’s disregard for the child’s safety in the vehicle. Of course, the child being in the car only made it more complex of a situation for police officers to attempt to resolve.

“They are trying to weigh the risk of it, knowing that that 2-year-old is most likely in that car, but that’s just not something that we could turn away from in that circumstance,” said Juul.

Fortunately, police stopped the stolen vehicle without incident

After about 30 minutes of pursuing the car, police were able to bring it to a stop using “Stop Sticks safely.” Stop Sticks are a special type of road obstacle used by police to deflate tires. They operate similarly to spike strips but use a simple single-man deployment method.

After police stopped the vehicle, they, fortunately, found the two-year-old child safe in the car.

Police arrested Rodriquez Porter for second-degree kidnapping, aggravated motor vehicle theft, and eluding.

“Sometimes you think you’re running for just a second, and you know, unfortunate things happen,” Juul said. “A lot of empathy to mom, certainly a very scary situation for her, and just so happy that it turned out okay.”

Fortunately, this story came to a safe and happy conclusion. Additionally, the mother of the child is now working with victim services, and the police department plans on paying for new tires and fees to get the vehicle out of the impound lot.

Ultimately, this story could have ended much worse. There’s a virtually endless supply of videos floating around showing just how badly a high-speed police pursuit can end. So, the fact that only the only loss involved with this particular case was a set of tires is a definite win for the Aurora Police Department.