9-year-old girl kicks attempted abductor in the shin to escape, Utah cops say

A 9-year-old North Ogden girl says she escaped a man who tried to drag her into his vehicle by kicking him in the shins, Utah police reported.

The attempted abduction took place at 2:45 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, as the girl walked from North Ogden Elementary School to meet her family at a nearby church, police wrote on Facebook.

The girl told KSTU the man, dressed in black with a surgical mask, asked her if she was lost. When she replied she was just looking for her father, the man grabbed her.

“He was pulling my arm,” she told the station. “So I kicked him in the shin and I started running off to this house.”

“I just call her my hero. I’m really proud of her,” her father told the station. He spotted his daughter fleeing and took her straight to a police station.

“Kudos to her because that’s amazing,” Sgt. Brandon Morreale of the North Ogden Police Department told KSL.

North Ogden police are still looking for the man and his vehicle, KTVX reported. They ask that anyone with information call 801-782-7219.

On Friday, Aug. 26, a man in a park behind the school reportedly talked to some children about going somewhere with him, but the two incidents are unrelated, police told the station.

North Ogden is a city of almost 21,000 people about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City.

This story was originally published August 28, 2022 at 3:15 PM with the headline "9-year-old girl kicks attempted abductor in the shin to escape, Utah cops say."