Local News in Brief : Man With Badge Tries to Force Woman in Car

Aman wearing a badge and claiming to be a police officer attempted to abduct a woman who was walking to work Tuesday morning in North Hollywood, authorities said.

Police said the 28-year-old woman screamed and broke free of the man, who then jumped in his car and fled. The woman was uninjured in the incident, which occurred about 9 a.m. on Tujunga Avenue near the Ventura Freeway.

Detective Robert Searle said the man, wearing dark pants and a light-blue shirt with a badge pinned to it, approached the woman, who was walking to a home where she works as a housekeeper. The man asked for directions, Searle said. When the woman said she could not help him, he got in a car parked nearby and moved it forward to the curb ahead of her.

“He then got out, told her he was a police officer and asked her to come with him,” Searle said.

The woman refused to get in the car and the man grabbed her, Searle said. After a short struggle, the woman broke free. Searle said that no similar abduction attempts were reported Tuesday and that police had few clues.

“The badge he had could have been anything from a novelty-store item to a security guard badge,” Searle said.