Good Samaritans See an Attempted Abduction and Say, “No, Not Today”

On 17 March 2011, a registered sex offender tried to abduct a young female at the Avalon Metro Green Line Station in South Los Angeles, California. Metro Green Line passengers stopped the abduction by fighting the would-be abductor, who was arrested. Steve Whitmore from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said about the arrested suspect, “He’s a registered sex offender. He has a criminal history.” He added, “The passengers, the commuters, bystanders, people like you and me, said, ‘No, not today,’ and so it all worked out. And this individual, by the way, is behind bars on $100,000 bail. And we are looking at other cases that he may be connected to—a possible one that happened in February where it was an actual attempted rape.” On 17 February 2011, a man abducted a 14-year-old girl from the Metro Green Line in Hawthorne and tried to rape her in a nearby condo. She fought him and escaped. Kyra Woodan from Southgate said, “I’m glad the community stepped up. That’s really good, because he shouldn’t do that.”