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First Posted: 1/20/2014

South Abington Township police are investigating a report of an abduction and quick escape of a woman along Northern Boulevard Saturday morning.

According to Patrolman Leonard Harvey, a 40-year-old township woman was coming home from a Scranton bar just before 3 a.m. when she says a driver flashed his vehicle’s lights repeatedly while driving behind her. He then pulled up next to her and ordered her to pull over. She pulled into the parking lot for the state Wine and Spirits shop along Northern Boulevard.

The woman, whom Harvey declined to name, told police the man got out of his car, told the woman she was under arrest and forced her to get in the back of his red, four-door sedan.

Harvey said the woman couldn’t recall all the details, including what race the man was, but said they began driving north on Northern Boulevard. Between Layton Road and Shady Lane Road, the woman says she realized something wasn’t right and she rolled the window down and jumped out of the vehicle.

At the same time, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation mechanic Patrick O’Dell was headed to the PennDOT maintenance garage in Clarks Summit when he saw the woman jump out of the vehicle and run across Northern Boulevard. He stopped his truck to ask if she needed help. She did and O’Dell took her to the township police department, Harvey said.

Harvey said interviews of the woman’s friends and workers at the Scranton establishment she said she was at are being conducted but as of this edition’s deadline, nothing has led to the identification of any suspect. He said surveillance footage is also being looked at from Scranton and South Abington township-based cameras to see if they caught the vehicle, license plate or the suspect on film.

He said, to this point, this is an isolated incident and he does not believe the public’s safety is at risk. He did advise that anyone being pulled over should go to a public, well-lit area and can call 911 to verify that a police officer is in fact pulling them over.