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Man Charged After Attempted Kidnapping

By Miles Skorpen

1:34 pm - 05/02/08

Thomas Chiang

Late last night, Thomas Chiang attempted to abduct a Swarthmore student, according to the police. In an email to the student body, Dean of Students Jim Larimore reported that "our student was able to avoid being coerced by another male into the car he was driving. … The student suffered no physical injuries and contacted campus police immediately, who arrived on the scene almost instantly."

NBC10 reported that Chiang spoke to a 23-year-old student, then "followed him and tried to force him into his car." The student has not been identified. Public Safety identified the car for local authorities, and after a high-speed car chase, Chiang was apprehended in Springfield, outside of the public high school.

Chiang has been charged with attempted kidnapping, unlawful restraint, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, fleeing and eluding, false imprisonment, reckless driving, and a red light violation, according to MyFox Philly. Chiang is 28 years old, and was carrying identification from the Temple Dental School.

10 Responses to “Man Charged After Attempted Kidnapping”

Shilpa
5.2.08 @ 01:05

creepy!!
Miles, how did you get the photo?

Springfield
5.2.08 @ 03:05

Cardinal O'Hara is not "the public high school," it is a Catholic school. A little research, please.

gene
5.2.08 @ 06:05

as for where he got the photo, just a guess but maybe "uncredited appropriation from another website?"

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6448893&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

Miles Skorpen
5.2.08 @ 06:05

It is actually from the authorities.

gene
5.2.08 @ 07:05

… the authorities who provided the picture to Fox?

I know it probably doesn't violate any journalistic code of ethics (since Fox didn't take the picture themselves), but didn't you get the picture from the Fox website?

Rafael
5.2.08 @ 10:05

"Late last night, Thomas Chiang attempted to abduct a Swarthmore student."

Guilty until proven innocent?

off topic
5.2.08 @ 11:05

Now I'm wondering if we should have given the increased risk to students' safety more consideration when we decided to extend the hours at McCabe from 1am to 2am. I'm inclined to say that this would have happened anyway whether the library had stayed open later or not, but it's possible we're creating this late-night culture where students are encouraged to stay up and out late without remembering that, to the rest of the world, 2am can be considered the dead of the night.

blah
5.2.08 @ 11:05

I dunno. the person who was attacked could have just as easily been coming from pub nite. not all of us stay at mccabe til 2 every night of the week and i've been out and about on campus at 2 on weeknights since long before mccabe hours were extended.

hours
5.3.08 @ 07:05

Isn't it better that the library was open? Given that some people are going to be out late, isn't it better to have other people around?