Stranger Offers Ride To Elementary School Student At Bus Stop: Police

CHICAGO RIDGE, IL — Chicago Ridge police will place extra patrols near school bus stops and school, after an elementary school student was approached Monday morning by a driver who asked if she needed a ride.

Around 8:30 a.m. the student was waiting at the school bus stop near 98th Street and Nottingham Avenue. While waiting for the bus, police said an older model pickup truck, gray in color, with heavy rust on the rear driver’s side door, stopped at the stop sign. Police said the driver rolled the window down and asked the student a question. The student responded “no” and the pickup truck left the area.

The student’s grandmother was sitting in a car waiting until her granddaughter got on the bus. Officers searched the area but did not find the described truck. Area schools were immediately notified of the incident.

Chicago Ridge police described the driver as a black male. He was the only occupant in the vehicle. Police are not sure what the driver said to the student, only to say it sounded like he asked if she needed a ride. The student attends a school in Ridgeland Dist. 122.

“It was quick,” said Chief Jim Jarolimek, of the Chicago Ridge Police Department. “He didn’t get out of the vehicle. We just want to identify the driver and talk to him, and see what was said.”

Extra patrols will be out during pick-up and drop-off times at the school bus stops and around schools for the rest of the week, the police chief added.

Anyone who saw the truck in the area, or caught something on their doorbell camera, is asked to contact the Chicago Ridge Police Department at 708-425-7831 or call 911.