Life
Black Van Approaches 13-Year-Old Girl As She Walks Home - Then Her Instincts Kicked In
All that this teen had was a backpack, but that was more than enough.
Cedric Jackson
11.02.17

Kids have a lot to worry about these days.

Not only are there the normal stresses of school, social life, and sometimes work, but they also need an acute sense of how to keep themselves safe in relatively normal situations.

Just ask Cynthia Trotter’s 13-year-old daughter. The girl was walking home from her nearby school, Aspire Hanley. It was only about a mile from her house in Orange Mound, which is a neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee. She rounded onto a street called Carnes Avenue, which was very close to her house.

Wikimedia Commons, Zvesoulis
Source:
Wikimedia Commons, Zvesoulis

At that point, the young girl saw that a black van was approaching her.

The driver of the car opened his window and then looked her up and down. He said, “Hey, baby girl.” This was the first sign that something was wrong. The girl averted her gaze and began walking faster to get away from the man. She didn’t want anything to do with him.

But since she looked away, she hadn’t noticed that the man had gotten out of his vehicle. He began chasing her so he could try to catch her. Then, he grabbed her from behind and tried to tear her hair out.

You can imagine that this would be a terrifying situation for anyone – but especially for a 13-year-old girl.

How is she supposed to know what to do? But at that point, her instincts just kicked in. She knew that she had to do something to get away, and she was willing to fight to get away from this man. Therefore, she grabbed her backpack full of books and hit the man with it full force.

Wikimedia Commons, Ligar~commonswiki
Source:
Wikimedia Commons, Ligar~commonswiki

Cynthia Trotter, the girl’s mom, said:

“She threw the backpack at him. He threw it back. When he threw it back, she got off the ground and started running. She was hysterically crying and stuff. She told us what happened. I called police.”

This is obviously a terrifying situation.

But this girl knew what she needed to do to protect herself, and she reacted to her instincts. It’s lucky that she did so because she got away from the man and managed to make it to her house. It’s hard to imagine how scary this situation would have been for a girl this young.

The girl’s neighbor, Cornelius Reed, was also interviewed. He said, “I was just hoping she was okay.” He mentioned that it wasn’t a particularly safe neighborhood or street and that he didn’t let his daughter walk around by herself.

Incidentally, this happened near a women’s resource center.

Trotter and her daughter are hoping that police can use surveillance video from the building to get some more information on the suspect.

Trotter’s daughter said that the man was black and in his early 30s, and he probably weighed about 200 pounds. She said that he was about 5-foot-8 with a tied-up hoodie and black jeans and red tennis shoes. Hopefully, police will be able to find out more information soon.

Wikimedia Commons, EurovisionNim
Source:
Wikimedia Commons, EurovisionNim

Trotter said that she doesn’t drive her daughter to school because she doesn’t have a car.

But after this incident, they are going to take some extra precautions. Instead of walking, the girl’s uncle will be taking her to school from now on. That way, she can feel safe as she makes her way to school.

No child should feel scared to simply walk to and from school. But unfortunately, with violence against women such a common occurrence, this sort of incident isn’t that surprising.

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