GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A 12-year-old Grand Rapids woman says she managed to get away from a stranger who grabbed her on the bus cease when she dropped one thing, then ran house screaming for her mom.
“Everybody says, ‘You were so calm and collected,'” the girl told News 8 Thursday. “I wasn’t calm in any respect. I used to be scared.”
Marquis Martinez, 25, was arraigned Thursday on costs of tried second-degree prison sexual conduct and kidnapping. Bond was set at $500,000.
Marquis Martinez seems in Kent County court docket over video name for arraignment. (Nov. 21, 2024)
GRPD: ‘Hero’ 12-year-old escapes stranger at bus cease
GIRL RECOUNTS STRANGER GRABBING HER
Investigators say Martinez grabbed the 12-year-old round 6:45 a.m. Tuesday morning as she waited for her bus within the space of Ball Avenue NE and Bradford Avenue.
The woman, whose identify Information 8 is just not utilizing as a result of she is a minor and since she is listed because the sufferer in a criminal offense, mentioned she steadily beats her schoolmates to the bus cease, so she was alone on the time. She mentioned she first noticed the person throughout the road and thought nothing of it.
“He crossed to my side and then he walked behind me and I thought, ‘Oh, maybe he’s just going for a walk,’ because during those times people are walking their dog or taking a little jog,” she mentioned.
Then, she mentioned, he grabbed her.
“He comes back and puts his hand over my mouth and grabs my waist and tells me to walk,” she recounted. “He guided me across the street towards the garden, behind some bushes.”
In court docket paperwork, investigators say they’ve surveillance video displaying it occur.
“I used to be asking him questions like, ‘Are you going to shoot me?'” the girl said. “He said no. ‘Are you going to hurt me?’ He mentioned no. ‘Are you going to kill me?’ He mentioned no.
“Once we got behind the bushes, he said, ‘I just want to have fun,'” she continued.
She mentioned she tried to speak him into letting her go, however he would not. She mentioned he tried to get his hand into her pants, however could not as a result of she was carrying a belt. Then she dropped her cellphone on the bottom, she mentioned, and he advised her she may decide it up, at which level she was in a position to get away.
“He stepped back and I ran,” she advised Information 8. “He tried to grab me; he slightly did. But I’m really fast.”
She took off towards house and began shouting.
“I came running into the house saying, ‘Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom,'” she mentioned. “I yelled as loud as I could.”
“She came flying in the door and we met at the door,” the woman’s mom advised Information 8. “Then time stopped and then it went slow and then I was outside running through the garden in my bare feet and T-shirt” looking for the person.
She known as police.
The woman mentioned she hasn’t been in a position to shake recollections of what occurred and doesn’t really feel OK being alone outdoors.
COURT DOCUMENTS: SUSPECT SAID HE ‘FELT AWFUL’
Martinez was quickly arrested after the fireplace division bought a report of a person within the woods who might have medical consideration and flagged him as somebody who matched the suspect’s description, the Grand Rapids police chief advised Information 8. Courtroom paperwork mentioned he was carrying the identical garments because the individual within the video and that the woman recognized him as the person who grabbed her.
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Courtroom paperwork say that when police interviewed him, Martinez “admitted to contacting” the woman. He additionally mentioned he had been ingesting the night time earlier than and “remembered feeling happy when he woke up.”
“(Martinez) said during contact with (the girl), he said hi and probably hugged her,” the doc reads partially. “(Martinez) said when he is drunk, he tries to be friendly however it comes off as being weird.”
The doc goes on to say that Martinez advised police “he felt awful about what happened, and described (the girl) as a sweet girl who would not lie about something like this happening.”
He penned an apology observe to her, the doc says, wherein he wrote “about being so sorry and that he didn’t mean to do any of that.”
Martinez’s subsequent court docket dates are set for Dec. 3 and Dec. 10.
‘HE’S A PREDATOR’
The woman’s mom, whose identify Information 8 is just not utilizing to guard her daughter’s id, advised Information 8 she “couldn’t be more proud.”
“I’m so proud of her. She couldn’t have done anything else more right,” she mentioned, noting that her daughter did not panic and analyzed the scenario. “She said that she was going along just to see where her escape might be or her out might be, and when she saw it she took it.”
Grand Rapids Police Division Chief Eric Winstrom on Wednesday praised the woman as “brave” and “a hero.”
“To her household’s credit score, no matter adults are in her life, they taught her precisely what to do, the identical factor I train my youngsters: You’ve bought to yell, you’ve bought to combat, you’ve bought to run,” he mentioned.
He mentioned her actions helped get a “monster” off the road.
“Predators like this, they do not stop,” he mentioned.
He mentioned police could be wanting into any related studies to see if Martinez may have tried to hurt anybody else.
“He’s a predator,” the woman’s mom mentioned, “and if she wouldn’t have caught him and stood up to him, who knows how many other kids he could have done this to.”
The woman is a seventh grader at Grand Rapids Public Faculties. The district despatched a letter to oldsters Tuesday urging them to speak to their youngsters about security. At an occasion Thursday, GRPS Chief of Employees and Govt Director of Public Security & College Safety Larry Johnson advised Information 8 that the district will maintain working with group companions to make sure security as youngsters get to and from faculty.
“We will continue to emphasize key safety information for families, encouraging open conversations with children about staying alert and traveling in groups when possible,” Johnson said. “We also urge our community to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement immediately, helping to maintain a safe city for everyone.”
The woman’s mom mentioned their house complicated is now going to go away the group constructing open for college kids whereas they await the bus.
—Information 8’s Demetrios Sanders contributed to this report.
