A 14-year-old Abingdon boy escaped an alleged kidnapping attempt Monday morning, running back to his home from a school bus stop after he was approached by an unknown man.
According to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, while walking to his bus stop shortly after 6:30 a.m. Monday, the youth was approached at the corner of St. Clair Drive and Benefit Court in Abingdon by an unknown male in a black work van with tinted front windows.
The person threatened to harm the student if he did not enter the vehicle, police said. The teen immediately fled and ran back to his home, where his parent called 911.
Harford County Public Schools spokeswoman Teri Kranefeld said the bus stop services Edgewood-area schools, but could not specify which school the youth attended.
Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies canvassed the area but were not able to locate the vehicle, department spokeswoman Monica Worrell said. The vehicle is described as a black commercial type work van with black bumpers, tinted front windows, and no back windows or driver’s side rear windows. Several neighborhood residents told police they had observed a suspicious vehicle in the area throughout the weekend which matched the description provided by the youth.
Worrell said police presence in the area was increased Monday afternoon, and an investigation into the incident is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the incident or the vehicle is asked to contact Corporal Paul Ruszala at (410) 836-5429.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office issued a robo-call to area residents at approximately 5:30 p.m. Monday. The text of the call follows:
Hello, this is a message from the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. On Monday, October 24th at approximately 6:30am, we received a 911 call regarding a suspicious vehicle described as a black commercial work van with black bumpers, tinted front windows, and no back windows or driver’s side rear windows. The driver of the vehicle threatened a 14 year old student while he was walking to his bus stop at the corner of St Clair Drive and Benefit Court. The 14 year student is fine, however we are requesting for the public’s assistance. Anyone with information regarding the described vehicle should contact Harford County Sheriff’s Office at 410-612-1717. As always, we remind citizens to pay attention to their surroundings and report any suspicious people or vehicles in their area to local police. Again, anyone with information regarding this morning’s incident or the described vehicle should contact Harford County Sheriff’s Office at 410-612-1717.
Mr. Cahall,
I’m sorry but have to disagree with your article here. The attempted abduction (thank God it was averted) happened in Abingdon and I fail to realize what purpose of the quote “Teri Kranefeld said the bus stop services Edgewood-area schools, but could not specify which school the youth attended?”. Are we saying now that because the stop services a greater area we are automatically linking it to that area. I realize that trying to tie events to Edgewood in your “headlines”, feeds the masses like blood in shark infested waters, gets great dialogue of he said/she said going, but lets get the story clear.
The takeaway I get is that hopefully the HCSO is keying in on the 2nd such reporting of an attempted abduction in the Abingdon area (period). Rather than race for shock talk and false analogies, look at the fact that maybe the sheriffs office has an item they need to be on the lookout for as a possible repeat attempt or area of operations for such a sick individual. For the record most sexual assaults or abductions happen by someone the family knows or is close too.
If there was an ice cream stick up at a Harford County Transit Bus stop at the Harford Mall, which area would you link your “headline” too since it serves several areas. Stick to the facts and leave the shock talk and false sensationalism to that other “newspaper”! Your better than that.
Thanks
Ron,
I can appreciate your desire to stick up for your adopted community, but you’re way off base here.
The headline references the fact that the bus stop serves an Edgewood area school for a simple reason. If you’re not familiar with the specific area of Abingdon where this occurred, you might think that the student was heading to Patterson Mill.
Regardless, you seem to have no problem with us reporting where the student went to school, you just didn’t like that it was in Edgewood. Too bad, because that’s the fact. In similar cases, we have reported which school the victim was heading to, (http://www.daggerpress.com/2011/06/10/aberdeen-elementary-girl-sexually-assault-at-bus-stop-police-seek-suspect/)
and will continue to do so. If you don’t think that’s a relevant detail, I’m sure there’s plenty of parents who would disagree.
Your analogy about the Harford Transit Bus doesn’t work either, because I likely would ask which bus the victim was waiting for and where they were heading and put it in the story.
More importantly, in no way did I write the headline or story with the intent to sensationalize. I have never engaged in that practice on this site, which you would know if you took the time to review my work before calling into question its integrity.
I’m sorry you’re so sensitive to Edgewood’s bad reputation, but this was a relevant detail to the story.
Aaron
Aaron,
Not sensitive to the situation as much as I am the fact that you state in the headline that it was at an “edgewood area bustop”. You also state he was approached at “corner of St. Clair Drive and Benefit Court” (thats in Abingdon according to google maps). Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. If you going to claim that locations in Abingdon are Edgewood area, then please return the favor. Thats all, not sensitive just hip to the game thats all. But thanks for the heads up just the same. If you don’t see that then you don’t see it. Always proud to stick up for my community just not going to sit there and get the sensitive stamp because I point something out which is a bit hypocritical.
At no point did I say that the bus stop was in Edgewood. In the story I clearly said that the stop served an Edgewood area school, and in the headline I said that it was an “Edgewood-area school” bus stop.
No one else seems have to gotten confused by what was meant, but maybe they’re just not as hip as you are.
Maybe not, but I do happen to rock a velvet smoking jacket with Laverne and Shirley embroidery from time to time. So my hipness could be transcending, nevertheless outdated. Either way thanks for the dialogue and agree to disagree.
Regardless of intent, this is a poorly written headline. Without reading the story, what a reader takes away from the headline is: An Abingdon boy is a victim of an attempted abduction at a school bus stop in the Edgewood area.
I can see Mr. Chapmans point very clearly.
Gee, so much for objectivity. When the Dagger first started many of us were hoping for a true alternative voice for Harford County; unfortunately it has degenerated into a hollow glob of spam for Bel Air; I find it curious that in your ad nauseum spamming of Wegman’s your fawning had no trouble describing it as being in Abingdon; but when this near tragedy happened you were quick to juxtapose it to an Edgewood incident; your prejudice is belied by your own words.
“When the Dagger first started many of us were hoping for a true alternative voice for Harford County”-
As somebody who was actually around when the Dagger started, I can honestly say it WAS an alternative voice. Many alternative voices:
Daddy Rabbit
Phil Dirt
Ritchie C
Steve
Viet Vet
Dave
(If I left you out, I apologize. The memory ain’t what it once was!)
A cast of characters indeed…
We all had agreements and disagreements over many a broad topic. It was always cordial, but pointed. And there was room for differing opinions. Anyone remember the illegal immigration story we chatted about way back when?
Alas, this discourse here has generated into an endless back-and-forth between a few posters so set in their dogmas that there is little room for anything but vitriolic confrontation.
If I want to engage someone who consistently calls my intelligence into question, my wife is in the next room.
My education or lack thereof? I see my boss everyday too.
My general lack of personal accomplishment? My parents are always just a phone call away.
Pigskin Prognostications, I miss you most of all…
Generally speaking, a 14 year old student who lives in that neighborhood would be going to EHS, by design. It’s also possible that student was headed to Edgewood Middle. It’s even remotely possible that the student was waiting for bus service to a private school, though I am not aware of one that has that service in this area. In any case, the information is purely factual, and is all the detail HCSO was willing to provide.
I have pure hearsay that comes from someone who was in the neighborhood who spoke with a deputy who stated that it’s possible the student knew the person or could have been involved in some trouble that would cause someone to try to put a scare into him.
No matter what the details are, clearly everyone is happy and relieved that the boy is safe. It’s a pretty isolated and unusual incident in what is normally a tiny and quiet pocket of the Abingdon area.
Ron Chapman: If you don’t like the headlines, why don’t you submit your own article with a headline more to your liking? I completely agree with Aaron on this one. I would have assumed an Abingdon neighborhood along the Rt 924 corridor would be served by Bel Air Schools. Thank you for doing us a service, Aaron. BTW, I attended Edgewood High School and lived in Edgewood for many years, so I am in no way “anti-Edgewood”.
If you are trying to be completely above board, tell everyone who your are related to on the Dagger staff. It kind of explains the bias in defending the Dagger writers in this post and previous ones.
Ditto Ron and Somebody’s statements. The incident happened in Abingdon – end of story. What is the relevance of naming Where the boy was going?
My guess is the kid knew the person and it wasn’t some random event. Why is it that what the suspect SAID to the victim is never quoted?
There is no point in saying where the child was going. The only reason it is mentioned is that he was going to Edgewood, and they want to somehow try and tie Edgewood to all of this. If the child was on his way to Bel Air, I can promise you that wouldn’t have been mentioned. Writers like to put bad things about Edgewood in the headlines to get people to read the article. This doesn’t happen with other areas in the county. I’ll give you a great example. A few years ago there was a murder in Edgewood, and a murder in Aberdeen on the same day. The Edgewood murder was front page news in the Aegis, taking up 1/2 the front page with the article, and part of another page a few pages back. The Aberdeen murder was buried on the last page of the paper with just 5 sentences. this is just another clear case of bias of the media against Edgewood.
Man, I tell ya, some of you read too much into stuff. Say what you want about my post, because I’m sure some of you will get your panties in a bunch, but I will not waste my time with something so ridiculous indicating that the writer of this article is somehow picking on Edgewood. Good Lord.
AGREED….. im from Edgewood, but I’m a mother first… lets focus people!!!!!!!! The point of the story is to notify the public of a possible abduction. Thank you Dagger, I am now walking my 10th grader to the bus stop at 6:45 a.m. WTH
Tom, you fail to see the big picture in all of this. The writer is trying to tie Edgewood to a crime (poorly) when Edgewood has nothing to do with the crime. As someone who lives in Edgewood I take great offense to this type of poor journalism.
I read the article and the headline and I never thought for a second that this was a slander on Edgewood. What if the article said Fallston? Would everyone from Fallston be up on arms saying that the author is trying to portray Fallston in a bad light? Probably not. Does Edgewood get a bad rep regarding crime, probably. Maybe because most of the violent crimes that occur in Harford County occur there. I’m sorry that the community that you are proud of has had this happen, but the facts are the facts.
I have many friends that live in 21040, many in very nice communities that I would live in. The point is, I do not think the title of this article was meant to put down Edgewood or reiterate the point of its high crime statistics.
When I first read the headline, I was not very happy with it either. I have seen this slant in the media. There was once an article in a local paper whose headline read ‘Edgewood Resident Charged with Assault’. Nowhere in the article was Edgewood mentioned. The man lived in Abingdon, worked in Fallston, and commited his crime in BelAir!
I re-read the headline and decided to give the author the benefit of the doubt. The problem here is that the sentence can be read more than one way, depending on interpretation. ’14-Year-Old Abingdon Teen Flees Attempted Kidnapping at Edgewood-Area School Bus Stop; Man Sought’: is it a school bus stop in the Edgewood-area, or a bus stop for an Edgewood-Area school? I do not think that it is as crystal-clear as others do, including the author, but I do not believe that Mr. Cahall’s intent was to link this crime to Edgewood. I have never seen him show a bias against my hometown as others have, as I previously mentioned.
The bottom line is that they don’t do this to other areas of the county, just Edgewood. By the way, if you look at the per-capita crime rate, Edgewood is no more dangerous than Bel Air. The fact is that Edgewood has twice the population of any other zip code in the county, so it only “seems” worse.
I am inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt but something in me still wonders. When I read the notice the HCSO sent out, I don’t recall getting the impression (even for a moment) that the incident happened IN Edgewood – it seemed clear that it happened IN Abingdon. The headline here immediately had me wondering about what I had read last night from the Sheriff’s office. Had they given out incorrect information?
Intentional or not, I hope the author does some better proof-reading of his work going forward; take in to consideration what might logically be inferred, especially when discussing crime locations in an obviously already tense atmosphere.
I still contend that Where the student was headed for the day has no bearing on this and certainly didn’t need to be in the title of the article. The comparison to an old article of an incident in Aberdeen has no bearing either.
@Must Agree – you are correct, if you look at the exact release provided by the HCSO (below Mr. Cahalls Dan Rather journalism) there was no mention of “Edgewood” or “Edgewood area bus stop”. It was straight facts of what happened and when. The headline is completely misleading and bogus.
There is an article in the Aegis on this today as well, and they made no mention of Edgewood at all.
I disagree that “where the child was going” doesn’t have anything to do with the article. It is very common in articles regarding children, particularly when they are on their way to school or home, for a reporter to ask law enforcement “what school does the child attend?”
In this case the HCSO did not want to give out that information so they said only “Edgewood area school”, which is why it end up in the article. This is normal and perfectly fine.
I do see that there is a misleading character to the headline, but I don’t believe it to be intentional.
@Noble – can you show me where the HCSO said that in the release?
No it wasn’t in the HCSO news release, nor was I saying it was.
My point was that if there’s an incident with a child at a bus stop, it is perfectly normal for a reporter to ask law enforcement where the child goes to school. If you think of any bus accident, but stop, even walking to or from school child incident, the article almost aways states what school the child attends.
It is my assumption that this reporter asked that very normal question and law enforcement who, for whatever reason didn’t want to name the school, only said the student was going to an “Edgewood area school”.
So my assumption is they went to press with the informatino they were given.
Not that it excuses the possible implications of how the headline is written.
I believe that the “Edgewood-area school” line was attributed to HCPS spokesperson Teri Kranefeld and no one else. Why is it so hard for everyone to read nowadays?
I agree with many of the posters here. Regardless of what the writer meant, and what he plainly stated that he meant, you folks obviously know better than he does.
Thank goodness that we have you to interpret the headlines and stories. Without this special insight to the truth behind the Dagger stories, I would be angry enough to demand a full refund of my subscription payment.
I love Edgewood and its residents. Unfortunately there’s a few insecure, reactionary, paranoid individuals (including the former president of the HCPS school board and a few of his admirers) who would rather spend their time “demanding” respect for Edgewood, instead of doing their part to “earn” respect for Edgewood. Shame on you. The fact that some of you are so removed from reality that you could conjure up indignation at the reporter for reporting the exact truth, is absolutely astounding! Wake up …. the children deserve better.