Police On Alert After Three Girls Attacked Students Report Attempted Abduction, Fondling Near Whitman Elementary In Two Days
Police are keeping a northeast Spokane school under surveillance today after three girls reported being attacked in two days.
Parents of Whitman Elementary students were warned of the incidents in a letter sent home Thursday afternoon.
Hugh Davis, Spokane School District spokesman, said he doesn’t know if the assaults - all occurring a block or two from the school - are related.
Even though classes end today for the summer, Davis said teachers are urging students to be careful and avoid strangers on their way to and from school.
Wednesday morning, a fifth-grade girl was walking to school at Pittsburg and Sanson when she was approached by a man who exposed himself. She ran to a house across the street from the school, Davis said.
On Thursday, a fourth-grader was about a block from the school between 8:30 and 9 a.m., when a man approached her and fondled her chest, according to Davis.
She was able to get away and run to the school.
At about the same time, a kindergartner reported that a man tried to pull her into a vehicle. Further details were not available.
School officials reported the incidents to police. No arrests have been made.
Davis said the school decided Wednesday not to notify parents of the flasher, believing it was an isolated incident. Schools decide on a case-by-case basis when to inform parents of such incidents, he said.
But after Thursday’s attacks, the school immediately began taking security measures, such as talking with the students about personal safety and requesting additional police patrols, Davis said.
Mary Hawkins, a parent in the neighborhood, said the school shouldn’t have waited until more girls were threatened.
“I think the parents should have been contacted immediately,” she said.
Neighborhood Resource Officer Percy Watkins hadn’t heard of the incidents until contacted by a reporter Thursday night.
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Precautions School officials are recommending these precautions: Parents should accompany their children to and from school, or students should walk with friends on established routes. Children should only play in well-supervised areas. Parents should decide what their children will do if approached by a stranger. Children should immediately run home or to a familiar home if they feel in danger.