The Los Angeles Police Department has released a chilling surveillance footage depicting a possible kidnapping, in which a man is seen snatching a woman from the street, carrying her to an awaiting car against her will and preventing her from escaping.
According to investigators, the incident seen in the video released on Monday took place at around 11.50pm the night before in the 100 block of West 79th Street in the Florence neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Witnesses said they heard a woman screaming for help and saw a light gray four-door sedan drive westbound on West 79th Street, reverse and pull over.
The Los Angeles Police Department has released a chilling surveillance footage depicting a possible kidnapping on West 79th Street Sunday night
The video shows a man exit a grey sedan and accost a woman walking on the sidewalk. He then picks her up and carries her to the car
Kicking and screaming: In the video, the woman is seen struggling to free herself, and witnesses say they heard her screaming for help
The CCTV video shows a man in a hoodie and sweatpants emerge from the driver’s side door, approach a woman walking eastbound on the sidewalk and grab her.
The alleged kidnapping victim struggles to free herself from the man’s grasp as he carries her to the car like a ragdoll and forces her inside through the front passenger door.
The woman apparently puts up a fight and the man has trouble keeping her contained in the passenger seat.
Eventually, he manages to shut the door and walks around the car to the driver’s side, at which point the woman again trees to flee.
She momentarily exits the car, only to be pulled back in by someone yanking on her arm from inside the vehicle.
The man forces the alleged kidnapping victim into the car through the front passenger door
The woman continues to struggle in the car, but the man manages to contain her
At one point, a convertible rolls past the woman desperately trying to free herself from her alleged abductor, but its occupants do not stop to help and speed away.
After a 15-second struggle, the man forces the alleged victim into the car, which then drives off, heading westbound on West 79th Street.
A woman who claimed to have witnessed the possible kidnapping tells CBS Los Angeles she heard the alleged kidnapping victim pleading with the man in the video to let her go and screaming for help, but to no avail.
‘She was saying, “No, no, leave me alone. Please help me. Someone help me!”’ recounted the witness, who said she tried to intervene by yelling at the man to let the woman go and leave her alone.
Desperate attempt: The young woman manages to jump out of the car, but someone pulls on her arm and struggles to yank her back inside
No one helped: At one point, this convertible rolls by the disturbing scene, but its occupants fail to stop and help the woman
Witnesses told police the man’s car, possibly a Chrysler 200, had a Texas license plate and the first three numbers were possibly ‘763’.
The male suspect was described as a Hispanic male in his 20s, standing at 6 feet tall and weighing about 200lbs. Witnesses believe there may have been a second suspect in the vehicle.
Anyone with information on the man and woman in the video is being asked to contact 77th Area Detectives at 323-786-5447. Anonymous calls can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
The man, a Hispanic male in his 20s standing at 6 feet tall, eventually overpowers the woman
Clues: Witnesses told police the man’s car, possibly a Chrysler 200, had a Texas license plate and the first three numbers were possibly ‘763’