Sandy Springs police are investigating the attempted abduction of a woman.
Nikki Walters told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik she had just finished a late shift at work last Wednesday night, and when she couldn’t find a ride back to her home in Lithonia, she started walking along Powers Ferry Road near New Northside Drive towards 285 to find a train station.
“A white van pulled up,” she said. “Black male, white male, pulled up, asked if I needed a ride, and I said ‘no,’” she told Petchenik.
Walters said moments later, the van pulled up again and the passenger opened a sliding door, jumped out, and attacked.
“He grabbed me, pulled my shirt,” she said. “I was holding myself off the van by holding one foot onto it.”
Walters said she remembered she had a canister of pepper spray in her purse, so she reached for it and sprayed the attacker in the face.
“I sprayed, and once he let me go I took off running,” she said.
Walters described the white van as “beat up” with rust all over it.
She described the would-be abductors as:
- White Male
- White Shirt
- Blue Jeans
- Short Brown Hair
- Brown Beard
- 5 ft. 9 inches to 5 ft. 11 inches
- 185-205 pounds
- 33-45 years old
- Black Male
- Blue zip-up jumpsuit
- 37-45 years old
- Facial hair
- Brownish-Tan ball cap
Walters said all she could think about was making it home safely to her 2-year-old daughter.
“I was like I got to do this for her. If not myself, for her,” she said. “Did not stop fighting. Instinct just kicked in. Just said you’ve got to do something.”
Police applaud Walters for fighting back.
“It was great. Quick thinking on her part,” said Sergeant Ron Momon.
Momon said police are warning women not to walk alone at night, and to take self-defense courses such as one the department offers every other month.
“Be aware of your surroundings at all times,” he said. “If something doesn’t look right, it’s probably not right.”
It’s advice Walters said she’s now heeding.
“A lot of people end up missing. People (are) missing and then they end up dead,” she said. “ I didn’t want that to be me.”
