A Manassas teen abducted by a man who claimed to be a police officer Thursday morning was able to jump out of his Jeep and get away, the girl's mother said.
Manassas police received a call, at 8:39 a.m. from a city resident who came upon a "female juvenile in distress" near the intersection of Quarry Road and Zebedee Street.
"The investigation revealed an unidentified male driving a red Jeep SUV, possibly a Patriot or Commander, approached the juvenile as she was walking to school on the 9400 block of Clover Hill Road," city police Sgt. Brett Stumpf said in a news release.
The girl, a high schooler, told police the stranger identified himself as a police officer and told her to get in the car. He then got out of the vehicle and grabbed her arm, put her into the front passenger's seat, and drove away. The man drove from Clover Hill Road to Wellington Road to Fairview Avenue to Quarry Road, where the girl was able to get out of the Jeep, Stumpf said.
The girl's mother told InsideNoVa her teen left for the bus stop and noticed a man behind her in a car. "He was driving slowly, watching my daughter [but she was] paying attention to her phone with her headphones, she was not aware of it."
"Suddenly, he told her that he was a police officer and that she had to accompany him. He took away her belongings," the girl's mother said.
The man began driving and the victim saw she was getting farther away from home. As the man got distracted looking into a backpack, the teen "threw herself out the door," her mom said.
"She told me that she did it regardless of whether she broke a bone," the mom said. "She took the risk because she was afraid that she would be raped or murdered. She decided to save her life. She is very afraid, but she is safe at home with me."
InsideNoVa is not releasing the victim's age, the mother's name or the school the girl attends to protect her identity.
Police released an image of the suspect's vehicle taken by a doorbell camera on a residence in the 8900 block of Quarry Road, Stumpf said.
The suspect was Hispanic, about 40 years old with black hair and beard. No weapons were involved.
"We ask the public to remain cautious and vigilant when encountering suspicious persons or vehicles and to contact law enforcement right away," Stumpf said. "Out of an abundance of caution, we will be conducting enhanced extra patrols during school hours."
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