Woman fights off masked kidnapper in Greenwood
SEATTLE -- Police are searching for a man who tried to kidnap a woman in the city's Greenwood neighborhood Sunday evening.
The woman was walking along Fremont Ave. N., just north of Green Lake Park around 8 p.m. when a man wearing a mask grabbed her and threw her in his van, police said.
She was able to fight him off and escape before he drove away north on Fremont Avenue. Aside from a few scrapes to her hands, the woman was unhurt.
The woman told police the man was driving a white van with the letters 'XVF' spray painted on the side.
If you have any information, call 911.
The woman was walking along Fremont Ave. N., just north of Green Lake Park around 8 p.m. when a man wearing a mask grabbed her and threw her in his van, police said.
She was able to fight him off and escape before he drove away north on Fremont Avenue. Aside from a few scrapes to her hands, the woman was unhurt.
The woman told police the man was driving a white van with the letters 'XVF' spray painted on the side.
If you have any information, call 911.
Getting a clear description of the perpetrator and the situation is paramount in so many situations. As a few on this post have mentioned so many of us walk/jog or venture out alone without having some sort of self awareness about us. While fire-arms may be the solution for a few there are other safer, more economical and easier to operate methods of personal safety out there.
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An app that my Seattle based company has created called iWitness provides just that, a witness to your activity. Users download the app., "arm" it whenever they are walking alone, jogging, or are out after dark, it begins to flash a light, when armed the app is single tap away from recoding video/audio and transmits your exact GPS location to a secure off-site server (nothing re-sides on the phone), if you feel endangered you tap the screen one more time and 911 is called, and an email/text message goes out to up to six of your pre-registered friends informing them of your location and that 911 has been called.
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Kudos to the women for getting away and providing a description of the van in question - how beneficial it would be if everyone were able to provide that type of information.
Every time I'm around Greenlake, I always think of how easy it would be for something like this to happen. Â I'm surprised it doesn't happen more. Â Unarmed women with their iPhone/iPod earbuds plugged in, running around alone on the lake are relatively easy targets.
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If anything, bring your dog (if you have one) and a can of pepper spray. Â If she was able to blast the dude in the face, he might not have been able to get away. Â If you're psychologically capable of defending yourself, and have some training, bring a small handgun, too. Â
 @KennyGambler ...This incident was far from the Greenlake area. -_-
How terrifying for that poor woman. I hope they catch this perv-o quick!
Why I always carry my firearm. A woman, feminism aside, is an easier target than a man. Period. So we reduce the victimization of women by carrying some kind of protection.Â
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Good on her for getting away.Â
 @CaliGirl@Heart Oh please. I have male friends who've been jumped walking alone. We always have to make such a bigger deal when it's a female. Women are "all equal" until something like this occurs and then they're suddenly weaker and highly more victimized. I guess now besides placing a ban on guns, we'll have to focus on placing a ban on men. Oh. Wait. Feminism has been doing that for year.Â
 @Lisa  @CaliGirl@Heart  @Heart Yeah, but CaliGirl is right that women are at least perceived as easier targets.  So that is something.  I've meet plenty of girls that don't even like to bicycle on the Burke-Gillman trail alone and esp. at night given how many spots there are to ambush folks.
 @CaliGirl@Heart Except in the home, where women are statistically more likely to be shot or killed with their own household firearm than fend off an intruder.Â
Should be a pretty easy van to spot. Good job by the woman to fight and get away.
What the police actually said:
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Attempted abduction in the Greenwood neighborhood**UPDATE**
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Written by Detective Renee Witt on February 10, 2013 at 9:04 pm
A woman fought off a man who tried to pull her into a van. Tonight, just shortly before 8:00 p.m., a woman was walking eastbound back home from the Fred Meyer on 85th at 3rd NW when a white van pulled up beside her, and a Hispanic male passenger said hi to her from inside the van.Â
This male then exited the van and got behind the female, he attempted to force her into the van. While doing so he pulled a black ski mask down over his face. The woman fought frantically and was able to resist and free herself. The Hispanic male got back in the van and fled the scene with a second Hispanic male driving away eastbound. The van is described as being white with the letters âXYFâ spray painted in red on the side of the van. The victim called 911.
She sustained minor scrapes and scratches to her hands. Officers responded and conducted an area search with negative results.
Anyone with information about this vehicle and or the suspects is asked to call 911.
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KOMO missed out on the details...Â
http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2013/02/10/attempted-abduction-in-the-fremont-neighborhood/
Report that van if you see it...
Ruger LCP .380 in the sports bra.
 @bagsofdirt I like mine. Just slip it in the pocket.
Thank goodness she's safe, too bad she wasn't armed, she could have iced this freak before he kills/rapes someone else. For Bakedview and other dunces, no, I am not blaming her for not being armed.Â
So glad she escaped and was able to give some useful information to the police. I know I'll be on the lookout for this "white van with the letters 'XVF' spray painted on the side."
Lets hope they get this pervert quick.