The St. Petersburg Police Department is investigating an attempted kidnapping in the 2100 block of Coffee Pot Blvd. around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

  • St. Pete PD investigating attempted kidnapping of jogger
  • Incident occurred around 5:30 a.m. on Coffee Pot Blvd. 
  • Victim was approached by a man with a gun, police say

Police said a 23-year-old woman jogging was approached by a man in a car. The man asked for directions, then pulled out a gun and told the woman to get in the car, police said.

The woman, Allie Coad, said she originally saw the car driving slowly back and forth.

"I noticed the same car that was going slow earlier had somehow circled back around and was crossing my path again heading in the opposite direction," she said. "The car slowed down and stopped next to me on the sidewalk. So, I took off my ear buds and he had the window rolled down and he said, 'Can you direct me to 4th Street? Where's 4th Street?'"

Coad said she pointed toward 4th Street and told the driver to keep going straight. That's when he tried to kidnap her.

"At that point he pulled out a gun from the glove box or something and pointed it at me and told me to get in the car," she said. "And the first thing I did was yell 'no' and I just sprinted in the opposite direction."

Her father, Duane Coad, told Spectrum Bay News 9 that she called her parents while running away.

"My wife answered the phone and my daughter was screaming," Coad said. "She says she was actually running away from the guy in the car when she was calling us and we told her to keep running."

The father said his daughter did the right thing.


Alexandra Coad (photo used with her permission from Facebook)

"Tell your daughters that if you're ever in this situation, jump in the Bay, run, just don't ever get into the car," Coad said.

Police are searching for a dark-complexion black man with dreadlocks, He was driving an burnt orange Toyota Scion.

Coad said his daughter regular runs on the route but hopes she changes the routine.

"As a father, I would hope that maybe she does it in the early evening or later in the morning."

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 727-893-7780.