Girl Allegedly Grabbed by Man Near Princeton High School Tuesday Night
An 11-year-old Princeton girl says she was grabbed by a man while walking on Moore Street with her miniature Schnauzer Pug dog around 8 p.m. last night. The girl said she broke free, screamed and then the man ran away.
According to the family, the girl was walking toward a friend’s house on Moore Street when she saw a man walking toward her on Moore. The two passed each other, and she thought nothing of it. She walked a bit farther, decided it was getting late, and turned back to head home. At about 8 p.m. she reached the intersection with Guyot. She saw the same man crossing Moore from Guyot. The family said she noticed him because she thought, “oh there’s that same guy again.”
She crossed Guyot and headed toward Valley Road. She said when she was near Valley Road, that man came up behind her, grabbed her, and mumbled something in her ear. She could not understand what he said. She was able to free herself and was knocked to the ground. She started screaming and making a lot of noise, and the man ran off. She got up and ran to a family friend’s house on Jefferson Road. She called her family, they called the police, and she spent about five hours talking to local and county law enforcement officials, first at home, then at the police station, then at the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office in Trenton. Thursday morning she is scheduled to go back to the police station to give a description of the man to a sketch artist.
The police department issued the following alert this afternoon after a relative reached out to police and questioned why no alert had been issued by the police: “The Princeton Police Dept. is investigating alleged suspicious activity between a juvenile female and an adult Hispanic male that was reported last night in the area of Guyot and Walnut La. Although no threat to the public exists, police are reminding parents to be attentive to the whereabouts of their children and with whom they are associating.”
The relative said he was told by a representative from the police department that an alert had not been issued because police are investigating the accuracy and legitimacy of the girl’s report. The relative said he was told the police do not have any information that leads them to believe there is any danger to the community.
The relative was told late this afternoon by a representative from the town that the police are privy to information the family does not have regarding the incident, and that the situation was handled properly by police.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
You’re telling me that an 11-year old girl managed to fend off a full grown man? Come on! I think it is summed up nicely with the line “The relative said he was told by a representative from the police department that an alert had not been issued because police are investigating the accuracy and legitimacy of the girl’s report. ”
The article says she was interviewed for FIVE HOURS; even by the Mercer county prosecutors office, and when its all said and done, they say there is no danger to the community. These are professionals who investigate these matters as their job. They are professionals and know fact from fiction, and can see past the smoke. READ BETWEEN THE LINES! What they are saying, without saying it, is that this girl has quite the imagination.
I’m curious. Did she actually report this, or did she tell a friend, who told another friend on facebook, who told an adult, who told a family member, who called the police, and now she was stuck and had to say it really happened? I live nearby, and will not take any extra precautions because of this report. I’m certainly not knocking the reporting by the press, but I’m just not convinced this actually happened. I know there are people out there who will believe this who whole-heartedly, and I’m sure you will post a reply as to me being naive, but I know a story when I read it, and this is one of those.