Police officers in Las Vegas are being credited with saving the life of a woman who was kidnapped and allegedly taken hostage by her boyfriend, and may not be alive today if not for their help.

According to the local Fox News affiliate, KVVU-TV, and local NBC News affiliate, KSNV, the officers were conducting a routine traffic stop on Feb. 20 at around 9:10 p.m. when they noticed an adult woman mouth “HELP ME” from the window of a car she was the passenger in.

The vehicle was being driven by Nathaniel Foutch-Pratt, 28.

The identity of the female adult passenger was not revealed.

The couple was taking a road trip from Illinois to California.

The officers reportedly stopped what they were doing and embarked on a high-speed chase in pursuit of Foutch-Pratt.

The chase ended when Foutch-Pratt crashed the vehicle into another car.

According to the police report, he shouted “she has to die tonight” and then attempted to choke the woman, who was described as his girlfriend, using the strap of a seatbelt.

Currently, Foutch-Pratt is detained in Clark County jail and his bond set at $50,000.

The charges against him are extensive. He has seven counts against him including coercion constituting domestic violence, attempted murder, domestic battery by strangulation, felony battery by a prisoner, misdemeanor domestic battery and disobeying a peace officer.

Foutch-Pratt’s court date is scheduled for March 12.

It is unknown whether the woman would have survived had police not intervened.

Others have not been so lucky.

NBC News affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky, LEX18, reported in January 2023 that Kentucky State Police discovered the body of Rachel Louise Carder, 53, inside a plastic tote in a car driven by David Maurice Reed, 54.

After a multi-county police chase, Reed, crashed into a police cruiser, was arrested and charged with murder, among other crimes, following his admission of getting into a fatal altercation with Carder in a motel room.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.