Father ‘forcefully took’ son and ran over grandmother to escape, police say

A 2-year-old boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert on Tuesday night has been found unharmed and the people who took him have been arrested, Burkburnett police said Wednesay morning.

The boy, Eli Scott Smith, was found Tuesday night in Santa Rosa, New Mexico in a vehicle with suspects Michael Scott Smith, 48, and Robin Michelle Golden, 51, both of California. Police canceled the Amber Alert shortly after the boy was found.

Smith and Golden each face felony charges of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and hit and run after they struck the boy’s grandmother with their getaway vehicle, Burkburnett police Sgt. Zac Leonard said.

The grandmother, 56-year-old Cassandra Thompson, was trying to prevent Smith and Golden from leaving with Eli. She was taken to a hospital by air ambulance with serious injuries, Leonard said.

Leonard said Eli is the subject of a custody dispute in the California court system between Smith and Eli’s mother, Christina Downing, 38.

Downing had fled an allegedly abusive situation in California and was staying with family in Burkburnett, Leonard said.

“(Smith) basically tracked them down and forcefully took the child from the mother,” Leonard said.

Golden was driving the vehicle, a black 2003 Saturn Vue, Leonard said.

The boy has been reunited with family members.