MANALAPAN — An incident that was initially reported to police as a suspected abduction attempt on two children turned out to be unfounded and is now considered closed.
Police were called to Locust Grove Lane in the Holiday North residential development off Route 9 at 8:11 p.m. Aug. 20. Police said two girls who were playing in a driveway saw a minivan pull up near them and heard a man tell them to get into his car and lie down.
The girls ran away and reported the incident to their mothers.
In a press release issued on Aug. 27, police said their investigation revealed that an adult male who lives in the neighborhood was driving his minivan slowly while attempting to retrieve his dog. Police said the front windows of the minivan were open and that the man’s two young children were in the back seat.
Police said the youngsters got out of their seat belts and into the front seat of the van. At that point their father (the driver) began to yell at his children to get into the back of the van, according to the press release. The two girls who were playing in the driveway overheard the driver yell at his children and mistakenly believed he was talking to them, according to police.
— Mark Rosman