A man punched the window of a SEPTA bus, followed the bus then pulled a woman off the bus -- punching her in the face -- before throwing her in his car and driving off.
Philadelphia Police spent the early hours of Friday trying to find the woman forced from the Route R Bus as it rolled down Roosevelt Boulevard near Garland Street around 1:45 a.m. Friday.
A woman, claiming to be the woman taken from the bus, later showed up at Northeast Detectives and said she was not actually abducted, said Philadelphia Police.
The bus driver said a clean-shaven 25-year-old man drove very close to the bus and eventually stopped next to the bus and punched a window while yelling at the woman who had boarded the bus at the Frankford Transportation Center. The driver – who had around 20 passengers on board the Wissahickon Transportation Center-bound bus – continued down the Boulevard for four to five blocks. Witnesses told Philadelphia Police the suspect in a four-door silver sedan – either a Pontiac Grand Am or Grand Prix with Delaware temporary tags – then cut the bus off and the woman began to get off the bus.
“At that point the male grabbed the female off of the bus, punched her several times in her head and her face and then forced her into the back seat of the car,” said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small.
Investigators said the incident could be domestic in nature and that the victim and suspect may know each other.
Small said another man was possibly in the front passenger seat of the car, which peeled off south on the outer lanes of Roosevelt Boulevard.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Philadelphia Police worked with SEPTA Police to grab surveillance video from the bus.
“There are cameras inside that more than likely recorded him,” said Small.
Police said that the license plate number for the car turned up no results in any local states.
Police have yet to announce any charges in the case.
