Posted 11:30 pm Wednesday, December 19, 2012
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UPDATE: Police located car in suspected abduction within 19 minutes
TylerPaper.com video
BY KENNETH DEAN
kdean@tylerpaper.com
The reaction from the law enforcement community in Smith County was swift this morning when a teacher at Hogg Middle School reported what she believed was the abduction of a student.
kdean@tylerpaper.com
The reaction from the law enforcement community in Smith County was swift this morning when a teacher at Hogg Middle School reported what she believed was the abduction of a student.
Officers with Tyler Police Department and Tyler Independent School District responded to the school and surrounding neighborhood at 8:20 a.m., while other officers put a net around the city.
They knew they were looking for – a silver-colored Mercury with green license plates with white or yellow lettering. The information was relayed to the Smith County Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney's Office, Bullard, Whitehouse, Troup police and the entire area.
As officers continued to interview the teacher at Hogg and check the attendance records, the search was on for the car.
At 8:39 a.m. the radio crackled with a Tyler motorcycle officer saying he believed he found the vehicle with a New Mexico plate at Walmart at 505 Troup Highway.
“I've talked to a woman here and she says they did just leave Hogg Middle School,” he radioed back.
Other officers quickly asked if the girl was OK. A few minutes later, the answer was the girl was fine and the people who had taken her from school were the girl's parents.
Tyler Police Public Information Officer Don Martin said the teacher saw something she believed was not normal, so she reported it to her principal, who in turn called police.
“The parents were trying to talk the girl back into the car to take her to get some medicine, because she has been sick. The initial information that the child was pushed into the car was inaccurate,” he said.
Martin said with the recent events in Newtown, Conn., everyone is extra cautious. The response by police was one that would be matched in similar incidents, he said.
Martin said as officers talked to the child's mother, she thanked them for their quick response.
“She was extremely appreciative and happy that people actually care and was looking out for them. She was glad at the response in this case and relieved to know that if something had happened to her child we would be out looking like we did,” he said.
Updated Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 9:44 a.m. CST
As officers continued to interview the teacher at Hogg and check the attendance records, the search was on for the car.
At 8:39 a.m. the radio crackled with a Tyler motorcycle officer saying he believed he found the vehicle with a New Mexico plate at Walmart at 505 Troup Highway.
“I've talked to a woman here and she says they did just leave Hogg Middle School,” he radioed back.
Other officers quickly asked if the girl was OK. A few minutes later, the answer was the girl was fine and the people who had taken her from school were the girl's parents.
Tyler Police Public Information Officer Don Martin said the teacher saw something she believed was not normal, so she reported it to her principal, who in turn called police.
“The parents were trying to talk the girl back into the car to take her to get some medicine, because she has been sick. The initial information that the child was pushed into the car was inaccurate,” he said.
Martin said with the recent events in Newtown, Conn., everyone is extra cautious. The response by police was one that would be matched in similar incidents, he said.
Martin said as officers talked to the child's mother, she thanked them for their quick response.
“She was extremely appreciative and happy that people actually care and was looking out for them. She was glad at the response in this case and relieved to know that if something had happened to her child we would be out looking like we did,” he said.
Updated Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 9:44 a.m. CST
