Brave mum stalls fugitives, before her car is stolen during police chase
A quick-thinking Sydney mother has managed to stall two fugitives who burst into her home and threatened her toddler.
Jessica Gallagher was allegedly warned it was her keys or her son before the two men took off in her car on Tuesday.
The chase ended with one man pepper sprayed and arrested, while the second remains on the run.
It’s alleged Kyle Naylor and Ben Smee were in a black ute, stolen from Victoria, that refused to stop for police in Tahmoor in NSW.
The duo allegedly crashed the vehicle just six kilometres away in Picton, where the men then burst into Ms Gallagher’s home.
The young mum had just put her son Archer down for a nap when the two desperate men allegedly demanded her car keys.
“I was scared ‘cause I didn’t know what their intentions were,” she said.
“I said ‘I have a baby down the hallway I need to get’, and he said basically it’s him or the keys," she claimed.
“I just felt that if I flushed (the duo) outside, it would buy a little more time.”
Knowing police were closing in, Ms Gallagher said she stalled the duo by telling them her keys were in a back shed.
The men were able to take off in Ms Gallagher’s red Dodge Nitro where they stopped at a leisure centre carpark and split up.
One was arrested allegedly trying to carjack a Holden with a man and woman inside, while the other allegedly forced a female driver from her Nissan SUV and took off.
Ben Smee, 29, was arrested but tried to run from police again, before he was tackled to the ground a short distance away.
“It was a pretty dynamic situation yesterday which unfolded pretty quickly,” acting inspector Dale Abbott said.
NSW Police are still searching for 25-year-old Kyle Naylor, who is known to live in the Macquarie Fields area.
It’s feared the fugitive may have fled across the border to Victoria, with a two-state manhunt now underway.
Police have warned the public not to approach Naylor, instead call 000.
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