Tough Texas Mom Jacks Up Would-Be Carjacker

Dorothy Baker-Flugence (pictured with her husband and children) of Baytown, Texas, is one tough broad!

Ismael Martinez (pictured) didn’t know what he was in for when he crept inside the rear of Baker-Flugence’s unlocked van last Friday with plans of robbing she and her children at knifepoint. The suspect never fathomed that he would wind up brawling with the mom.

He ended up being thrown from the vehicle, run over and then hospitalized, reports Fox News.

The horrifying ordeal began when 54-year-old Martinez watched Baker-Flugence go inside a CVS. He then made a beeline for her unlocked parked minivan, hid in the backseat, then waited for his potential victims to return. When the mom returned with her two young boys, ages 2 and 5, Martinez sprung up and held a knife to the throat of Baker’s oldest child.

“He popped up out of the backseat and said that if I didn’t want my kids to get hurt, that I would do exactly what he said,” Baker-Flugence told ABC News as she tried to fight off tears.

Martinez then instructed Baker-Flugence to head for the nearest ATM machine.

She fought back instead. “I took my fist and I hit him in the face, and I told him to get out of my car,” Baker-Flugence said. The pair fought as the feisty mom drove the minivan, even though she got sliced across her chest during the struggle. The ferocious mom was able to grab the knife from Martinez; he bit her hand in return.

Baker-Flugence thought to ram her van into a pole, thinking Martinez would go flying through the windshield because he didn’t have on a seatbelt. When she rammed the pole, Martinez was uninjured, so she continued to fight him off while at the same time trying to call 911 from her phone.

Martinez finally jumped out of the van and took off on foot. But Baker-Flugence was not going to let him escape that easily. She sped towards the suspect and ran him over. “I didn’t mean to run him over,” she said. “I was just trying to stop him so he didn’t hurt anybody else.”

The incident left Martinez immobile until the paramedics and police arrived. He was airlifted to a Houston hospital and reportedly suffered serious injuries. Martinez will face felony charges in connection to the attack. He has a history of rape and burglary convictions.

Now a hometown hero of sorts, Baker-Flugence is receiving praise from many who say that they would have done exactly what she did to save their children. Meanwhile, Baker-Flugence tells ABC News she is just grateful that her children were unharmed. “We’re safe and that’s what matters,” she said.