VIDEO Watch 11-Year-Old Florida Girl Fight Off Kidnapper At Bus Stop

A Florida man is in police custody after attempting to abduct an 11-year-old girl from a bus stop on Tuesday. The attempted kidnapping was caught on surveillance video.

The incident took place at about 7 a.m. ET in Pensacola, Florida. In the one-minute and 37-second video, a white Dodge Journey can be seen driving by the girl who sits on a patch of grass.

The same sports utility vehicle returns about a minute later and stops by the intersection. After the vehicle stops for about 12 seconds, a man can be seen wielding a knife when he quickly exits and runs toward the girl.

The girl grabs her bag and attempts to flee, but the man grabs her and tries to take her back to his vehicle. The man and the girl struggle, but the girl breaks free, and the man quickly heads back to his vehicle.

“Luckily, she fights. She struggles and then she went limp. And she’s kicking and she’s pushing and she’s punching and she’s able to get free,” Escambia County sheriff Chip Simmons said in a statement.

The girl can be seen grabbing her belongings and runs in the direction away from the vehicle. After the man returns to his vehicle, he drives in the same direction as the girl and out of view of the surveillance camera.

The man has been identified as 30-year-old Jared Paul Stanga.

When officers found Stanga, he was wearing the clothing seen in the video, and they discovered a similar vehicle at the home and a fresh coat of black paint on its bumper.

According to Simmons, the girl had been playing with blue slime and Stanga had been seen in a convenience store surveillance video with blue slime on his arms.

Stanga faces charges of attempted kidnapping of a child under 13 and aggravated assault and battery.

After speaking to the minor, police learned it wasn’t her first encounter with Stanga. Two weeks prior to the incident, Stagna reportedly approached the child, speaking to her in Spanish.

The girl reportedly walked away from Stanga and reported the incident to her principal, teachers, and parents. The girl’s mother then began accompanying her to the bus stop. The day Stanga attacked the girl was the first time her mother wasn’t present.

Stanga has an “extensive” criminal past that includes charges of sex crimes against a child.

“I cannot help to think that this could have ended very differently,” Simmons said. “Had this 11-year-old victim not thought to fight and to fight and to just never give up, then this could have ended terribly.”