AMITE-- Quick action by four young girls and the Amite Police Department on Saturday, Jan. 12, thwarted an alleged attempted kidnapping in the heart of downtown Amite.

Police Chief Jerry Trabona reported that local police received a call from one of the little girl’s mother’s on Saturday. She reported that her child and friends were walking along Southwest Central Avenue when they were approached by a male in a silver car.

The stranger ordered the little girls, all under the age of 14, to “get in the car,” the chief said Monday.

Instead, they screamed, made lots of noise, then ran across the railroad tracks and away from the stranger.

When the girls rushed to one of their homes, police were contacted.

Newly hired police officer Travis Graham gave chase. The suspect’s car was described as a silver Chevrolet Impala.

Tangipahoa Parish deputies were on the lookout as well.

The suspect’s Chevy headed south on US 51, then spun out of control on Virginia Street just outside the city limits where it smashed into a home, reported Trabona.

Kent Ott, 49, of Osyka, Miss. was arrested.

He is charged with four counts of simple kidnapping of a juvenile, Trabona said.

Trabona reported that Ott is also a fugitive wanted by the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office and is reportedly on probation from previous narcotics charges in Mississippi.

There were no injuries at the home where Ott crashed. Ott was taken to the hospital then released a short time later, Trabona said.

As for the little girls, the chief said, “They are fine. A little shook up as can be expected, but they are fine.”