Lyft Driver, Passenger Help Thwart Kidnapping Attempt: Reports

CHICAGO, IL — A woman was able to escape a kidnapping attempt Sunday morning after police say a man tried to drag her into a minivan in the West Loop.

The woman was walking on the sidewalk in the 200 block of South Sangamon Street around 8:45 a.m. when police said a man approached her, grabbed both of her arms and tried to pull her inside a maroon Dodge Plymouth van.

The woman screamed and was able to fight the man off as a passenger in a nearby Lyft vehicle got out and confronted the man, police said.

As the Lyft passenger confronted the man, a video showed the Lyft driver attempt to block the van in before it drove away, NBC Chicago reported.

The van was later recovered by police.

The woman credited the Lyft driver and passenger with saving her, telling NBC, "The Samaritans were the people who came to my side. And that's when he got scared and got into the van and drove off. If it wasn't for them, I would have been toast, for sure."

Police described the man as black and between 30 and 40 years old and 5-foot-8 to 6 feet tall, wearing a white baggy sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and baggy gray sweatpants. The sweatshirt had dark writing on it, police said.

Police said a similar incident happened on the same block on Aug. 24, when a 30-year-old woman was walking around 7:20 a.m. when a vehicle approached her, WGN reported. In that incident, someone got out of the vehicle, grabbed the woman's shoulders and attempted to lure her back to the vehicle, with three other men in side it. A dog walker saw what was happening and sprayed the attempted kidnapper with pepper spray, causing him to get back into the vehicle and flee, according to WGN.

Police urged residents to take steps to protect themselves while out walking:

• Always be aware of your surroundings
• Pay special attention to suspicious people loitering in the area and report them to the
• police
• If confronted by an offender, remain calm
• Remember any unique descriptive characteristics of offenders (Scars, limp, acne, teeth
• etc.)
• Dial 9-1-1 immediately and provide a detailed description of offender
• Never pursue a fleeing suspect
• Walk in pairs