Police probe Michigan kidnapping attempts

DETROIT — Officials are investigating after Sterling Heights police arrested a Shelby Township man accused in two abduction attempts.

Witnesses in Clinton Township called 911 on Tuesday after seeing a man force a girl into his white sedan in an area on Clinton River Road east of Hayes, the Clinton Township Police Department announced in a press release Wednesday.

He allegedly grabbed the youth around her head and neck around 1:30 p.m. then forced her into the back of his car through the passenger door behind the driver's seat, according to the release.

A township resident intervened to help the girl run away and alert other residents who called 911, according to the release. The man drove off.

Clinton Township police did not name the suspect in the release.

Sterling Heights Police arrested a 23-year-old man later that afternoon after receiving reports a driver struck a child with their car at Riverland Park at 2:20 p.m., according to a statement from Capt. Mario Bastianelli, public information officer for the city's police department.

A Sterling Heights resident and police volunteer with Citizens on Patrol intervened and pulled the man out of the car, he said.

Sterling Heights police arrived to find the man had tried to kidnap a 7-year-old girl. Officers did not know about the previous abduction attempt in Clinton Township at the time, Bastianelli wrote.

"Due to the outstanding job by the aunt of the 7 year old, our volunteer citizen and the officers who arrived quickly on scene. A very dangerous suspect was taken off the streets, and a 7 year old girl was saved from being further harmed," he said.

Sterling Heights police plan to pursue every possible felony charge as the investigation unfolds, Bastianelli stated.

Township investigators are coordinating with Sterling Heights police investigators to request charges from the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office.

Authorities ask that anyone with information on the kidnapping attempt contact the Clinton Township Police Department Criminal Investigation Department at (586) 493-7856 and reference case number 24-27830 or the Sterling Heights Police Investigations Bureau.