Mt. Juliet, Tenn. – A recent social media post on Facebook, creating concern of an attempted abduction in Providence MarketPlace, conflicts from statements provided to police. The social media post that contains the statement, “A guy tried pulling me out of my car…,” posted on a popular Facebook blog is much different from the statements provided to investigating officers. On Tuesday, January 5, 2016 around 4:15 p.m., multiple officers were summoned to the Providence MarketPlace parking lot near Ross Dress For Less after a female reported that a male tried to grab her as she was getting out of the car.
However, when officers arrived on the scene, the statements from the female conflicted with the original information provided to police dispatch and posted on social media. On the scene, the 27-year-old female stated that a young male adult, around 18-19 years-of-age, opened her driver door and asked if she needed help getting out of her car. The female then shut her door, and she stated the male walked away nonchalantly. Prior to the encounter, the female complainant stated she witnessed the male walking with a female acquaintance around 18-19 years-of-age near JCPenney. The female complainant stated it appeared that he was dropping her off at JCPenney because the female waved goodbye to the male.
Based on the investigation and statements given to multiple officers, an attempted abduction, or any other crime, did not occur. The male never attempted to grab the female, touch her, pull her out of the vehicle, or threaten her.
Due to the conflicting statements, lack of aggressive behavior, and lack of a crime, the police department felt there was no need to alert the public about this incident. However, when the conflicting statements were posted on social media, creating unnecessary fear amongst the public, the department felt it would be best to correct such false information.
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