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‘It Saved My Daughter’s Life’: Girl Refuses To Get In SUV After Driver Doesn’t Know ‘Code Word’

Posted at 4:08 PM, Nov 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-11 16:08:50-05

A girl who was walking with a friend near a park near Phoenix avoided a stranger’s “attempted luring,” a sheriff’s office said.

Around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, a man in a sport-utility vehicle pulled up next to them and told the girl her brothers were in a serious accident and she needed to go with him, according to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

The child asked the man what the “code word” was, but he did not know it and drove off, authorities said.

“Kudos to the parents of this child for having a code word and talking about to their children about stranger danger,” Sheriff Mark Lamb said in a statement. “We hope by putting this out, it will encourage parents to have that conversation and create a plan with their children, so they know what to do if they are in that situation.”

Children in the neighborhood have seen the SUV circling the park several times a day, according to the sheriff’s office.

KNXV-TV reported that the 10-year-old girl’s mother, Brenda James, said, “This one time, it saved my daughter’s life.”