Traffic ground to a halt in Downtown Santa Monica on June 12 as police responded to possible kidnapping call at the intersection of 2nd and Santa Monica Boulevard.
Police officers scrambled significant resources to the downtown location at about 3:40 p.m. and sent out public alerts regarding the case. At about 5:05 p.m. the department sent a second alert calling the kidnapping call "unfounded" but traffic had already backed up in the area and several news helicopters had begun hovering over the city.
The initial alert described a missing 2-year old girl and asked residents to be on the look out for an Asian male wearing a red shirt. A command post was established in the 100 block of Santa Monica Boulevard and residents with information were asked to call police.
After about 90-minutes of searching, officers determined the child was actually safe with family members. The department released a second alert saying, "A follow up investigation is now being conducted regarding a possible theft of property."
matt@www.smdp.com
