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(KSL News) -- A family password may have prevented the abduction of a 7-year-old boy this afternoon in Weber County.
A first grader was waiting for his grandparents to give him a ride home from Freedom Elementary School in Hooper, when a man approached him and asked him to get in and help find a lost bulldog.
The boy asked the man for the family's secret password. When the man didn't know it, the boy ran back inside the school and the man drove away.
This incident brings up an important question: If someone tried to grab your child, would he or she know what to do?
"Do whatever you can to get away."
"Say NO and stay back."
Fourth Graders at Plain City Elementary, received self defense instruction today from a program called radKIDS.
Kaylee Breeding: "I think it is really important, because at any time, somebody could come and snatch you."
Alyson Larsen, radKIDS Coordinator: "Eighty-five percent of the time, children are grabbed. So you have got to give them something to be able to get away from that."
At Freedom Elementary in Hooper today, it didn't get that far.
The boy asked the man for the family's secret password.
Capt. Klint Anderson, Weber County Sheriff's Office: "When the man couldn't give it to him, he ran into the school and hid."
The suspect then took off, and the boy told his grandfather what happened. The grandfather called the Weber County Sheriff's Office.
Capt. Klint Anderson, Weber County Sheriff's Office: "It is reassuring that parents are teaching kids about this kind of danger and threat."
Police say teaching your children a family password is a great idea. Teaching them how to resist a stranger takes that preparation one step further.
Kaylee Breeding: "If they lift you up, go for the shins. And if they come at you from behind, you go for the groin."
Kari Breeding, Mother: "It's comforting to know now that if something were to happen, that at least she has some basic skills. Hopefully, it will just be a reaction."
The radKIDS program has taught 15,000 kids in Utah over the last four years.
Police describe the suspect as being in his mid-30's with dark hair and a black hooded sweatshirt. The boy said the suspect was driving an older red pickup truck, with a crewcab and "4x4" on the back, which may indicate it was a Chevy model.
We scanned through our archives tonight and found a handful of stories where parents felt a family password -prevented a dangerous situation.
To help your kids Stay Safe, establish a password when your kids are school age. Don't make the password a name or address. Practice; remind them of the password, and what to do if the person doesn't know it.
