NewsLocal News

Actions

Woman seriously injured in SLC kidnapping attempt, police say

Posted at 5:35 PM, Sep 07, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-07 19:57:23-04

SALT LAKE CITY — A woman is being treated at a local hospital right now for some serious trauma to her face after she was attacked and dragged by a man in an attempted kidnapping in Salt Lake City last night.

Salt Lake City Police told Fox13 that the woman was heading northbound on the east side of Redwood Road a little after 10:00 pm Thursday night. As the woman was walking, 28-year-old Ousmane Camara attacked and dragged her across Redwood road.

"We don't necessarily understand the nature of this attack was or why it occurred. It seems to be very random," Detective Greg Wilking said during a media interview Friday afternoon.

Wilking said the woman was dragged and brought to an African restaurant near 996 S. Redwood Road and that's when a group of customers, who were eating and playing games on the patio, heard the woman screaming.

"They noticed what was taking place and brought it to his attention that they are paying attention to what he was doing," Wilking said. He believes that attention potentially saved this woman from being harmed further.

"She suffered some significant wounds. She's going to be banged up, bruised up. Not life-threatening," Wilking said.

As soon as Camara was caught, police said he ran into the restaurant. Police took him into custody without any trouble.

"He's facing aggravated assault and kidnapping charges," Wilking said.

Fox13 found out that Camara has been booked numerous times for past incidents. Wilking said in one incident, Camara was booked on August 17th for attempting to kidnap a one-year-old child in downtown Salt Lake City and in another incident, Camara allegedly exposed himself from the waist down and was found with meth on his person.

Fox13 reached out to the Salt Lake County Jail and asked why Camara had been released from jail following these unusual encounters.

Jail spokesman Kevin Hunter said "He (Camara) has not been released by making bail in the past. His first, he was released on a pre-file release and the other time was an over crowded release."