March 11, 2016
A woman is telling Philadelphia police detectives that she is the person depicted in a video that apparently showed an overnight abduction from a SEPTA bus in Crescentville.
The woman visited the Northeast Detective Division Friday morning to state she was not abducted, but police say the investigation into the incident continues.
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About 1:45 a.m. Friday, police responded to a radio call reporting an abduction of a 20-year-old African-American female from a SEPTA bus stopped on Roosevelt Boulevard. The driver told police on the scene that the woman had boarded the bus at Frankford Terminal. As he drove on the Boulevard in the area of Pratt Street, the driver noticed the bus was being followed by a silver car whose operator was attempting to get the bus to pull over.
While the bus was stopped at a red light at Langdon Street and the Boulevard, a black male approached the bus and starting pounding the window where the unidentified woman sat inside, cracking the glass, police said.
The man yelled at the woman to get off the bus, but the driver drove away when the light turned green.
At the next stop, in the 4200 block of the Boulevard, the woman asked to exit the bus, and the man met her at the front door, police said. When the doors opened, the suspect grabbed her, punched her twice in the head, and dragged her to his vehicle, then threw her by the pants into the back seat of his car, police said. He then fled in the vehicle, described as a silver four-door Pontiac Grand Am or Grand Prix with a Delaware paper temporary tag on the bumper.
The man was described as 25 years old, about 5-foot-9, thin build, short hair, clean shaven, with a red and black striped shirt.
This is a developing situation. Check back for updates.
