14-Year-Old Warde High Girl Reports Attempted Abduction on Jennings Road

A 14-year-old Fairfield Warde High School student told police Monday that she warded off a potential abductor by punching him in the face and running to her house.

Police said the unidentified man, described as white, in his 40s or 50s, and five feet, four inches tall, had followed the girl as she walked from Warde High to her home Monday afternoon. The man followed the girl in his car, and, when she went into CVS by Black Rock Turnpike and Jennings Road to shop, the man was standing outside the pharmacy, according to the girl's report to police.

The man then called out to her - the girl believes he said "Excuse me" - and she walked across the street to Star Fuels at 350 Jennings Road, opened the door to the business and saw the man behind her, according to the report. The girl, whom police said was frightened, then walked to a home on Jennings Road and pretended it was the home where she lived. The man pulled into the driveway in his car, got out of the car and grabbed her arm, according to the girl's report to police.

The girl said she then swung around and punched the man in the face, knocking him to the ground and continued to punch him after he was on the ground. "She reports that she forcefully took the male to the ground and continued to punch him," said Police Sgt. Sue Lussier, a department spokesman. The girl reported that she then threw a rock at the man and ran to her home, which was a short distance away, police said.

The girl's mother called police about 4:49 p.m. and the man had fled when officers arrived, police said.

The man was additionally described as having some facial hair, wearing glasses, a baseball cap, a tan jumpsuit and tan boots. He was driving a black, four-door Nissan Maxima with out-of-state license plates, according to the girl's report to police.

Lussier said the incident was under investigation by the Police Department's Youth Bureau.

Asked if the girl did the right thing in attacking her would-be abductor, Lussier said it would have been wiser if the girl had asked someone in CVS to call 911 to report a man following her. "She could have told people at Star Fuels as well," Lussier said.

Lussier said the girl was in a commercial section of town when the man was following her, and that was a good time to seek help. "She was in a big public place with lots of help. If she had asked an adult to help, they may have been able to get a plate or identify him," she said.

If a child is followed by someone in a residential, or less-trafficked, area of town, Lussier said the child should scream and run. "If you leave that scene, your chances of survival drop right there," she said.

Lussier said detectives are reviewing surveillance tape from outside CVS and interviewing store owners and employees in the area at the time.