5-year-old girl escapes stranger by kicking, screaming

MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. — A 21-year-old Maple Valley man tried to abduct a 5-year-old girl Wednesday at approximately 6:30 p.m., according to King County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Cindi West.

West said the man picked the girl up while she was at an apartment complex playground in the 21900 block of Southeast Wax Road. The girl kicked, screamed and hit the man. She was able to escape the man's grasp.

The girl did not know the man.

Maple Valley Police were called to the apartment complex after the girl's mother called police when she came home crying.

Witnesses told police that girl and a 4-year-old boy were playing on swings when the man approached the children.

Witnesses saw the man talk to the children and then picked the girl up off a swing. A bystander grabbed the boy and another person confronted the man.

Maple Valley police found the man a short distance away from the apartments.

The man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for investigation of unlawful imprisonment.

KIRO