Police are searching for a man who reportedly grabbed the arm of a student on the way to her south Cape Coral bus stop Tuesday morning.
According to a report from the Cape Coral Police Department, the girl was walking to her bus stop in the 1600 block of Southwest 47th Terrace at 6:25 a.m. when the man attempted to stop her.
The man had been standing by a white pick-up truck smoking a cigarette when he grabbed the student’s arm and demanded that “she was coming with him.”
She managed to pull away and the man immediately left the area.
The girl went home and called police, who are investigating the incident as an attempted kidnapping.
Cape Coral police released a composite sketch of the suspect, as well as a photograph of the pick-up truck taken at a nearby Circle K.
He is described a black male, approximately 40 years old, thin with a black-gray scruffy beard. He was wearing a doo-rag and his eyebrows were half-shaven. The suspect also wore black pants and a black shirt.
No further information on the student was provided except that she is a juvenile.
Officers have received reports of this truck previously being in the same neighborhood. The suspect has also been seen driving a newer model silver 4-door vehicle with “nice rims and tinted windows.”
Lee County School Board member Robert Chilmonik said the district needs to continue improving its transportation system to avoid these type of situations in the future.
“We just need to continually improve our transportation system and constantly come up with better ways to protect children,” he said.
Last week Chilmonik toured local bus stops with a FOX 4 camera crew. He observed some elementary students waiting for buses as early as 5:40 a.m. in neighborhoods with no sidewalks.
Anyone with information on this suspect is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS. Any tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a $1,000 cash reward.