Whitehorse RCMP urge man involved in alleged abduction attempt to come forward
Mother says daughter shaken after someone grabbed at her from car
Whitehorse RCMP are asking the person who may be involved in an attempted abduction in downtown Whitehorse on Monday to come forward to police.
"We'd like to make an appeal to the person that was involved in this, that they can come forward, talk to us, talk to the police, share their side of the story as to what happened," said Cst. Julia Fox.
Jennifer Mitchell's daughter was walking in an alley between 3rd and 4th avenues when a man approached her in his vehicle, talked to her, then reached at her. Mitchell said the 13-year-old girl initially thought the man was going to ask for directions when he called her toward his vehicle.
"She pulled away just in time and she started running down towards Skookum Jim's," Mitchell said.
"The gentleman got out of his vehicle, started chasing her on foot and then got back into his car, started following her for three blocks and then she pulled out her cell phone to call for help and he said 'never mind' and left."
Charges not certain
Mitchell said investigating officers told her it may not be possible to lay charges. "They told me, by what my daughter had reported, there might not be enough to charge the man with anything, to make charges stick, but they're going to try their hardest," she said.
"But they sat there and told me they might not be able to charge him because he never actually got her."
Local filmmaker Dennis Allen said he phoned police after reading about the incident. He said he saw a man with a darker complexion with white facial hair in a grey or tan sedan "driving kind of slow and kind of erratic."
After picking up his son's friend from the McIntyre subdivision, Allen said he saw the vehicle again. "There was a young girl ahead of him walking and she was walking really fast like she was walking away from him," Allen said.
What if?
Mitchell said she's always taught her kids to stand well clear of strangers in cars who talk to them, but is still alarmed by the incident.
"You just have these what-ifs in your head: what if they would have got to her? What if she didn't stand back far enough?"
Mitchell said her daughter is shaken as well. "She won't leave the house, she's throwing up, she can't sleep, she's shaky, she's terrified.
"She's scared that he's going to come to the house. She's scared that if she goes out on the step he's going to see her."
Fox said it's important for parents to talk with their kids about what to do if a stranger approaches them, to have a safety plan in place, and to know where their children are.