The California Highway Patrol is seeking the public's help to find a group of folks who passed through the Bay Bridge this weekend, after a toll taker witnessed a disturbing scene inside their vehicle.
At around 8:37 p.m. on Saturday, the tan or grey 1995-1997 Chevrolet Blazer you see above passed through the toll plaza headed west, a CHP spokesperson says.
When they passed through to pay their toll, the toll taker told police he saw a little girl kneeling on the center console in the front seat of the SUV, struggling with the right front passenger while crying and screaming, KRON4 reports.
The toll taker said the situation was worrisome enough that he summoned CHP. Though they arrived at the toll plaza "immediately," the SUV had made a clean getaway and hadn't been seen since.
The CHP emphasizes that they don't know if the child was in danger — and who hasn't seen a family meltdown during a road trip — but the scene is unusual enough that they'd like to check in with these people just in case.
"What we want to try to do is attempt to locate this vehicle, and the driver, and the passenger, and also the juvenile" CHP spokesperson Officer Vu Williams says "and essentially do a welfare check on the juvenile to make sure that she's all right."
The SUV didn't have any license plates, but Williams says it has other characteristics that make it easy to watch for. He says, for example, that it was being driven without plates, but has a "temporary operating permit in the lower right area of the back window."
The SUV also has two bumper stickers on the back, and after-market fog lights mounted on the front of the vehicle.
Inside the Blazer, the driver is described as a black male in his 60s with gray hair and a full beard. The passenger is a 40-50 year old black female who was wearing a multicolored scarf as they passed through the toll plaza. The child is described as a 9-12 year old black female with short hair.
Think you've seen this group of travelers? If so, contact the CHP at 415-557-1094 or 1-800-TELL-CHP.
