Police ask for public’s help as woman filmed screaming for help during abduction in van in LA

Woman can be heard pleading for help in the video while a man is seen alongside her

The vehicle spotted in the video was described as a light-coloured commercial van resembling a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter with after-market solar panels and an air-conditioning unit installed on its roof (Screengrab/Video )

Authorities have started investigating a video which emerged from California’s Santa Clara area showing a woman screaming for help inside a moving van in an alleged abduction bid.

Los Angeles county sherif’s office tweeted the video on Monday asking people for any information about the incident.

“Detectives from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station are asking the public’s help to identify the vehicle and any information about the occupants of the vehicle in the video,” the tweet said.

The two-minute-long footage, which seems to have been recorded by a bystander in a nearby house, is originally from the evening of 12 August and was shot in a residential area of Newhall, near the corner of Calgrove Boulevard and Creekside Drive, the Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said in a crime bulletin.

In the footage, a woman is heard pleading as she creams “help” and “please somebody help me.” A man is also heard alongside her, appearing to console her as he says, “come on, honey.”

The witness who recorded the video from the balcony of his house intervenes after a few seconds and screams “Stop” as he asks someone else nearby to call 911, telling them, “they’re abducting her.”

“What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” the man recording shouts at the van shortly before it drives away.

According to KTLA, Sheriff’s officials are investigating the incident as a suspicious circumstances case. The vehicle spotted in the video was described as a light-coloured commercial van resembling a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter with after-market solar panels and an air-conditioning unit installed on its roof.

The Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in providing information on the van and its occupants. In a tweet the Sherrif office said: “Please call 661-799-5805 and speak with Detective David Nisenoff, if you have any identifying information. Pay close attention to the #LASD Attempt to ID Bulletin for the vehicle description.”