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Tonya Papanikolas Reporting"In this case, you have to operate on the assumption that a child was taken forcibly into a car, and assume that it was a child kidnapping, and so it was a judgment call on the part of police."
Officers don't know if a little girl was kidnapped or possibly just taken by relatives, but the attorney general's office and police department are defending their position to issue an Amber Alert.
Police have no new leads in the case of girl believed to be around eight-years old who could be missing. The Salt Lake police department issued the alert for her yesterday after a witness saw a man pick her up. But no one has come forward to say a child is actually missing.
Police got some tips overnight, but nothing has been real promising. They say they will keep the Amber Alert in place over the next couple of days if they have to. While working the case, the police department is also defending its decision to issue the alert.
A Walgreens employee on 9th East and 21st South was outside on a break when she saw a man pull up in a van across the street and pick up a little girl by both arms. The girl was not kicking and screaming, but the witness told police she didn't look like she wanted to get in the van. So the woman called 911.
Officers discussed issuing an Amber Alert and in the end decided to err on the side of caution. One of the criteria for issuing an Amber Alert is that law enforcement has to believe a child has been abducted. Police admit they didn't know at the time, and they're not sure now, but they think the alert was still justified.
Det. Dwayne Baird, Salt Lake Police Dept: "We didn't want to be behind the game in this, if in fact someone called four or five hours later and said, 'my eight-year-old is missing,' and we go back and say, you know what, we had an eight-year old that was placed in a van, and we didn't do much about it."
Police admit it's possible the little girl may have been picked up by a father or relative. They say they hope that's what happened and that someone will come forward to tell them that was the case.
The girl is about eight years old, Caucasian, about four feet tall and 80 pounds with long blonde hair. She was wearing shorts and a white tank top.
The suspect is described as a white male, 35 to 40 years old, between five foot eight and six feet tall. He has a thin build, and brown hair that has a mullet cut, and was wearing all black.
