School safety agents honored for rescuing kidnapped kid

<p>Two unarmed school safety officers who responded to an Amber Alert and rescued an abducted 2-year-old on Feb. 7, received honors for heroism Monday.</p>

News 12 Staff

May 15, 2017, 8:40 PM

Updated 2,758 days ago

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School safety agents honored for rescuing kidnapped kid
Two unarmed school safety officers who responded to an Amber Alert and rescued an abducted 2-year-old on Feb. 7, received honors for heroism Monday.
Deshawn Woodford, a supervisor of school security, and Brian Caballero, a school safety agent, received citations of merit Monday from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. at Borough Hall.
The officers were taking a lunch break together when their phones lit up with Amber Alerts related to a kidnapping on Staten Island. Witnesses who had spotted a car matching the one described in the alert flagged the officers down on the Major Deegan Expressway. The black Kia Sorrento was actually right behind them. 
The officers halted traffic on the expressway and called for backup. Although they were unarmed, they handcuffed the suspect and secured his vehicle, from which they rescued the child.
Johnny Woo, the 45-year-old suspect, had allegedly taken his daughter from her mother on Staten Island without permission.
"I wasn't really fearing for my life at that point, I was more focused on the 2-year-old — like any parent or grandparent would be," Caballero says.
Woodford, a mother and grandmother, has been on the job for 19 years. Caballero, who has two daughters of his own, has been on the job for 25.