'My Heart Just Dropped:' OKC Mother Recounts Man Stealing, Crashing Car With Twin Babies Inside

A single mother is thankful to have her twin babies back home. The babies were asleep in the car when police say a man stole her car from a Northwest Oklahoma City parking lot.

Shamari Smith is not missing a single moment with her children, 1-year-old twins Nova and Noah and 4-year-old Nyla. “They mean so much to me,” Shamari Smith said of her children.

Every smile and laugh are a little more cherished after the unthinkable happened on Saturday. “I don't see how they made it out of there alive,” she said.

Smith had spent the afternoon with her children at the park and promised Nyla a trip to the store, the twins were asleep. “I ran into the store for just a second and then as soon as I came out my car was gone, like that,” Smith said.

Police say Chance Randall Sanders took the car from the parking lot with the babies still inside. “My heart just dropped, I instantly called 911,” she said.

According to police, Sanders sped off in the car down Northwest 23rd Street, ran a red light at Meridian Avenue, and crashed out near a Braum’s restaurant, taking out a bus stop. Sanders took off running but was arrested. “I just broke down, just seeing my car like that and just imagining my kids being in the back,” she remembers. 

The babies survived with barely a scratch and this mother knows how remarkable that is. “God sent his angels,” she said. “It’s a miracle and I’m just thankful that I strapped them in, I had them secure.”

A miracle she won't take for granted. “If it's not important or it's not necessary just don't go or at least have someone with you,” Smith said. “When you have your kids in the car just have someone there with you because I wish I would have had someone there for me.”

Sanders remains behind bars on complaints of kidnapping and stealing a car.

Smith says she had just paid off her car and now it’s totaled. She said she doesn’t have full coverage, so if you would like to help her out, click here: https://gofund.me/7619b343