Chilling video shows rape suspect abducting 14-year-old girl in Los Angeles
Chilling surveillance video from Los Angeles captured a man allegedly abducting a 14-year-old girl — before forcing her into a bathroom and raping her.
The man can be seen with his arm draped around the young girl as they walk down Klamath Street near El Sereno Park on Tuesday, according to KTLA.
The suspect, identified as Edward William Banks, 27, threatened the girl with a weapon and forced her into a bathroom, where she was sexually assaulted, police said.
He then fled but was arrested later that night and booked on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping to commit rape.
Banks’ bail has been set at $1 million.
The disturbing case comes as soft-on-crime LA District Attorney George Gascón — whose woke policies have been blamed for rising crime in the city and surrounding areas — has faced mounting criticism over his progressive directives to reform prosecutions.
On Monday, backers of the campaign to recall Gascón said they intend to file an injunction against the county registrar as they review the thousands of signatures he declared invalid.
Dean Logan, the county’s registrar-recorder, in August determined the effort to oust Gascón fell short of meeting the required 566,857 signatures because nearly 90,000 of them were not registered to vote and roughly 45,000 were duplicates.