SAN LEANDRO (KRON) — Police are investigating an attempted kidnapping in San Leandro Thursday morning, according to authorities.
The suspect attempted to kidnap a woman just before 8 a.m. on 14700 block of Washington Avenue, police said.
A woman was pepper-sprayed, knocked down and dragged to a car while she was walking to work but saved from abduction by a passerby who fought off the suspect, police said.
The 23-year-old woman was walking to work when the suspect emerged from between two parked cars and pepper sprayed her, blinding her.
Police say the suspect was in a car when the incident happened.
He knocked her down and started dragging her to a silver Nissan. A man walking by stopped and tried to help her and the suspect also pepper-sprayed him.
But the man kept a grip on the suspect despite being continually pepper-sprayed. Eventually, the suspect broke free and fled in the Nissan, police said.
Police arrived and the man and woman were both treated for their exposure to the pepper spray.
Witnesses described the suspect as a black man between 25 and 40 years old standing about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing between 165 and 185 pounds, according to police. He has short curly black afrostyle hair and a full goatee.
At the time of the abduction attempt he was wearing thin-framed glasses, a collared shirt, a black sweater with a white stripe around the center, black pants and black shoes, police said.
He was driving a newer silver Nissan 4-door sedan with silver spoke wheels and tinted rear windows.
Police have not determined the motive for the attack. The woman does not know the suspect so the reason she was targeted is unclear.
Anyone with information about the identity of the suspect has been asked to call Detective Steve Cesaretti at (510) 577-3239.Stay with KRON4 News for updates.
