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Uploaded: Tuesday, February 5, 2013, 5:09 PM
Man attempts to grab girl on bicycle in Palo Alto
Police release sketch in possible attempted kidnapping
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 | Palo Alto police are looking for a man who attempted to grab an 11-year-old girl's arm as she rode her bicycle past him after cursing at her as she approached him.
The incident occurred Monday, Feb. 4, at about 5:16 p.m. in the 1600 block of Emerson Street, police said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
The girl told police was riding her bicycle southbound. She first saw the suspect standing in the street glaring at her. He walked to the west sidewalk and began to yell curse words at her as she approached, police said. When she was about 10 feet away from him, he stepped off the sidewalk and attempted to grab her right arm as she rode past. He did not actually make contact with her, police said.
The girl screamed, pedaled faster, and rode away from the man. He did not attempt to follow her, but as she rode away, she heard him yell that he was going to "kidnap" her. She last saw him running away from her in the opposite direction, headed northbound on Emerson Street. She rode home and told her parents what had occurred.
The man is described as white, in his 30s, between 5 feet 9 inches and 6 feet tall, and weighing between 140 and 160 pounds. He had light-colored hair and was either balding or had a receding hairline. He was wearing eyeglasses and a "puffy" dark blue jacket.
There is no known suspect vehicle, and police have not been able to locate any witnesses. Palo Alto police officers and detectives have increased marked and unmarked patrols in the area. The department has not received reports of any similar incidents elsewhere in town, a spokesman said.
Police have posted personal-safety and crime-prevention tips on the City of Palo Alto website, www.cityofpaloalto.org/StopCrime.
The department asks that residents remain aware of their surroundings when out in public and encourages the public to report suspicious behavior immediately by calling 911.
Parents are advised to encourage children to be alert and to tell an adult about anything they see that does not seem quite right, the department said.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voice mail to 650-383-8984.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by another skinny white male, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 5:17 pm [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by another skinny white male, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 5:20 pm P.S. I am glad that this girls parents taught her to ride a bicycle so she was able to outrun this guy. Is she was on foot, this incident might have turned out differently.
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Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 5:24 pm Scary story. Glad she is alright.
I am sure the girl pedaled faster rather than peddled. The two words mean very different things.
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Posted by Carrie, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 6:36 pm Carry a can of Mace. They are coming at the younger people.
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Posted by XDOW, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 6:53 pm I urge everyone to take a photo of that sketch with your iphone ipad or whatever. Keep it on you. You never know when you might see him.
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Posted by Ana, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 8:28 pm This story is truly scary!!! I encouraged my kids to ride to school. Now I am going to start driving them.
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Posted by neighbor, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 9:39 pm A center in Palo Alto attracts transients - have the police checked this center to see if any of the men there match this description?
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Posted by Cynthia, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 9:41 pm How awful! As a mom to a 12 year old girl, I immediately did something I should have done years ago - I went onto the Megan's Law site and typed in my own zip code of 94301. I urge everyone to do the same. There are 6 registered sex offenders right HERE and now I know what they look like.
Just a good thing to do. Let's stay alert, watch over ALL our kids and help them feel safe.
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Posted by Ana, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 10:08 pm Great idea Cynthia. I just went to the site but I was not able to do the search. Can you share thd link that you used? Thanks
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Posted by Hanna, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 10:24 pm Ana,
Why does an incident like this change your view about your kids biking to and from school? In the morning and when school gets out in mid-afternoon, there are lots of eyes on the street!
Truth is that many more kids are injured or killed as passengers than abducted by strangers. But since most of us drive every day, we underestimate the risk of injury inside that familiar metal box, and wildly overestimate the risk of abduction by strangers.
Plus this incident is reported to have occurred at 5:16 pm. Sunset was at 5:38 today. So if your middle school student doesn't have a buddy to ride with at that hour, maybe it's a rational choice to pick them up.
I agree with the comment above: "I am glad that this girl's parents taught her to ride a bicycle so she was able to outrun this guy." She also screamed loudly, which may also be a sign of wise parenting.
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Posted by resident, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Feb 5, 2013 at 10:43 pm If you're afraid of stuff happening to your kids when they bike to school, then just bike along with them. Maybe do some errands afterwards before you bike home. You'll be amazed how much more fun this is than driving your kids to school every day.
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Posted by Chris Hansen, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 5:42 am Try Crime Reports if you wanna see all the pedos in your area, and then marvel at how many live within throwing distance of schools.
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Posted by Looks Like, a member of the Barron Park School community, on Feb 6, 2013 at 8:52 am This is speculation, but this man's picture looks like one of the sex offenders who lives on Alma. Would be worth having this girl look at the picture on familywatchdog.us:
Web Link
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Posted by Peddle to the mettle, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 9:20 am Tough to find journalists who know the language. Or is the problem with the copyediting?
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Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 9:49 am Problem is spellcheck. Peddling is very different from pedaling.
They can edit away at posts they don't like, but posts that point out their spelling errors are ignored. It is hard to take serious an article with such a whopper!
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Posted by Mom, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 10:28 am The Megan's Law website is powerful information. I had no idea that so many sex offenders live in our neighborhood.
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Posted by Jon , a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 10:42 am [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
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Posted by WRITER, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 11:03 am Girl almost gets kidnapped and and idiots are complaining about spelling.
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Posted by David Pepperdine, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 11:20 am The NRA's solution? Give her a gun.
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Posted by Raymond, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Feb 6, 2013 at 11:27 am Is it any wonder that most of these assaults and attempts occur at or near the Train Corridor? Wake up Law Enforcement and clean out those Homeless camps and get the mentally Ill off of our streets and neighborhoods!
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Posted by Jon, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 11:42 am I see the Palo Alto Online staff removed my previous post without explanation. I was providing the Megan's website link, as well as some statistics about child safety. I was also informing residents that I am offering free self-defense classes to all students and staff through our local schools. Sorry if I did something wrong... (?)
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Posted by cid4houses, a resident of another community, on Feb 6, 2013 at 12:16 pm maybe they object to self-promotion.
Half Moon Bay Rewiew does not allow that on the web forum
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Posted by Tom, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Feb 6, 2013 at 12:53 pm According to the Family Watchdog site -- but not found on the Megan's Law registry as far as I can tell -- there's a registered sex offender living on Oregon Avenue, roughly 12-15 blocks from the site of this incident. From the photo and description at the Family Watchdog site, this man is a very close match to the description and sketch in the article.
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Posted by My Secret Identity, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2013 at 9:03 am I believe that is character actor Derek McGrath.
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Posted by Phony, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Feb 7, 2013 at 6:43 pm This whole story sounds fishy. There are so many things that are not right about this story that I suspect the girl made it all up. It would not be the first time this has happened. A woman recently claimed a man tried to steal her child from her arms, and now she has been arrested for making false claims.
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