Man Grabs Novato Student While Walking To School, Police Say

Police are looking into why a man got out of a minivan and grabbed a student by the arm while he was walking to school in Novato on Monday.

The student was walking in the 700 block of McClay Road at about 8 a.m. that morning. He told investigators that a man got out of a dark-colored minivan and grabbed him, police said on Tuesday afternoon.

“The student reported that while walking to school an unknown Hispanic male got out of a dark colored mini-van and approached him,” police said in a statement. “The student reported the unknown male grabbed him by his arm and was speaking Spanish to him. The student was able to quickly free himself from the persons grasp and continue on to school.”

Police do not suspect the man was trying to abduct the student but are trying to determine what happened.

“At this time the Novato Police Department is collaborating with the Novato Unified School District and are attempting to determine the identity of the unknown male to understand his reasoning for the encounter,” police said.

Anyone with information about what happened has been asked to call Novato police at (415) 897-4361.