A teen girl's quick-thinking brother is being credited with saving her life after he grabbed onto his sister's ankles and pulled her from a man who was trying to kidnap her on Chicago's North Side Monday.
"I'm just glad he was there because if he wasn't I would be on the news missing," said 15-year-old Diavonnie Ingram.
Diavonnie Ingram and her 13-year-old brother Devonte Ingram were walking around 7:30 a.m. Monday in the 3000 block of North Francisco in the city's Avondale neighborhood when a man grabbed her from behind and began dragging her toward a parked white van, which had its rear doors open, according to police.
"I bent down to tie my shoe and then I felt something lift me up from the back of my book bag then tried to throw me in the van," said Diavonnie Ingram.
The teen girl said she grabbed a nearby gate and started screaming. That's when her younger brother, who was walking just a few steps ahead, heard his sister's cry for help and rushed into action.
"I just had to pull her legs until I had started screaming and he had let go," Devonte Ingram said.
But the siblings say the man tried to take the teen girl again, attempting to throw her in the van for a second time.
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"She had moved her arms so the book bag could slip off and then I had grabbed her and we ran," Devonte Ingram said.
Police issued a community alert Tuesday and said the man took the girl's belongings before fleeing in the van. The community alert initially said the incident involved two juvenile girls, but officials later said it was a girl and a boy.
The siblings' mother said they moved to the North Side neighborhood a year ago because she thought it would be safer for her family.
"I wouldn't think anything like this would happen," said Felicia Wings. "My son to me is my hero as well as her's and he is always going to be our hero because he saved her life."
Her brother says he's just happy his sister is OK.
"I had to save her life," he said. "I'm glad she is here right now."
Police said the man who tried to kidnap Diavonnie Ingram was described as being between 20 and 30 years old, 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-2 inches tall, and weighing between 190 and 210 pounds. He was clean-shaven with dark, curly hair and was wearing a black and white Adidas jacket and black constrution boots.
The vehicle was described as a white work van with no side windows and a large dent in the front passenger side.
Anyone with information on the attacker is asked to call Area North detectives at (312) 744-8261.
