Police: 12-Year-Old Girl Beaten During Abduction Attempt
Updated 10/30/13 - 11:07 a.m.
ORLAND HILLS, Ill. (CBS) -- Police in the southwest suburbs are looking for a man who beat a young girl while trying to abduct her.
Police say the 12-year-old girl was walking home from her bus stop near 169th Street and 88th Avenue in Orland Hills.
She was just half a block from home when she says a guy tried to pull her off the street and into a red car. She told police she fought back, but the suspect punched her in the stomach, and repeatedly slammed her head against a tree.
The girl's parents said she suffered from some memory loss after the attack. She remembers the attack, but can't remember simple facts like who her family is, and where she lives.
Her father said she had an MRI on Wednesday, to determine if there had been any brain damage, and the results were encouraging, though his daughter was still suffering memory loss.
Police said the girl had noticed a man following her, and called 911 to report the suspicious man behind her. She later told police she remembered the man grabbing her cell phone, hanging up the phone, then trying to force her into a red car.
"She claims that he struck her several times in the abdomen with her bookbag, and then hit her head several times into the tree that was there," said Orland Hills Police Chief Tom Scully.
Police said, by the time officers arrived at 169th Street and 88th Avenue, the victim was lying on the ground.
"She did do the right things, and I think that she was very composed to take the time to pull that phone out and make that phone call," Scully said
The girl told police both the guy who attacked her and the driver of that red car wore ski masks. She described the attacker as a light-skinned male in his late teens to early twenties, wearing a black ski mask, gloves, a black jacket and tennis shoes.
Faye Alowisi's daughter and the victim go to Prairie View School in Tinley Park. She said her school district sent out a message by email Tuesday afternoon.
"It's terrible, and I'm trying to teach my child to be vigilant. Not every bad person looks evil and things happen so quick. My frustration is the school did not even let them know the situation. They just told them that there was a community alert," said Alowisi.
Police ask anyone with information to call (708) 349-4434.
