A 6-year-old girl was helping take out the trash when the unthinkable happened. A man approached her, touched her private parts and then took her arm in an attempt to lead her away from her home, according to The Washington Post.
The incident in broad daylight was captured on Ring video footage. The parents of Ken’adi Nash, Ricky Nash and Mandie Miller-Nash, appeared on Fox News to talk about the terrifying incident.
“Definitely have a talk with your kid,” Miller-Nash said on Fox News. “Let them know about stranger danger. ... This can happen in an instant, in a blink of an eye. ... I just want them to have talks with their kids and let them know that this is real, and it can happen, and to use the necessary precautions ... if something would ever happen like this.”
The alleged attempted kidnapping took place in Hamilton, Ohio, while Ken’adi was taking out the trash for her mother and putting it out by the sidewalk. After Ken’adi pulled her wrist free from the man, she ran inside and immediately told her parents what happened.
“She came in with a blood-curling scream, she ran into the living room, she said, ‘Mommy, someone tried to take me,’” Miller told CNN. “I went outside and saw him walking down the sidewalk.”
Ricky Nash said he chased down the alleged perpetrator, Deric N. McPherson, 33, before he was arrested.
“I just jumped in the car to make sure he wouldn’t get away,” Nash said. “She was obviously safe with us, and I wanted to make sure that he didn’t go down the street and attempt to take another kid.”
The Washington Post reports that McPherson “has since been charged with two counts of kidnapping, one count of gross sexual imposition and two counts of unlawful restraint.”
Earlier this summer, Elizabeth Smart — who was abducted from her home in 2002 when she was 14 years old — joined KSL NewsRadio’s “Dave & Dujanovic” show and explained that sexual assault and abduction can happen to anyone.
“In the U.S., a person is sexually assaulted every 68 seconds, and 1 in 6 American women have been a victim of or almost completed rape, and that is terrifying,” Smart said.
Smart also explained that it is important to talk to your children about the dangers that are out in the world. Teach them to be vocal and to set boundaries so that if they ever find themselves in a situation where they’re in danger, they have a higher chance of escaping.
“Should you ever find yourself in that moment of panic, of stress, of fear, your body just reacts and unless this is trained into your muscle memory, these tools may not be available to you unless you have continually practiced them,” Smart said.