Neighbor helps stop Wilmington kidnapping attempt
When a man grabbed an 11-year-old girl walking home from school in Wilmington, neighbor Ivonne, who watched it happen, shouted out to scare the man off.
LOS ANGELES – Police have arrested a man for allegedly trying to kidnap an 11-year-old girl in Los Angeles, after a neighbor who witnessed the attempt scared the man off.
The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a call in the Wilmington area on Oct. 15 around 3:15 p.m. Police at the scene were told the girl was walking near M Street and Gulf Avenue when the suspect, who police have identified as Jose Jaime of Hawthorne, approached her from behind and fondled her inappropriately.
A good Samaritan who lived in the area noticed what was going on and jumped in to stop him.
“Hey, leave her alone,” Ivonne, the good Samaritan was heard saying on video of the attack.
The man apparently told Ivonne the girl was her niece. But, she said she knew better.
Ivonne and her brother tried to catch the suspect, but he got away in a gray Nissan Kicks.
Detectives said they arrested Jaime at his Hawthorne home on Wednesday. Officers booked Jaime on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping. His bail was set at $1 million.
Ivonne, a longtime Wilmington resident, told FOX 11 she was glad she was home folding her laundry at the time of the incident.