Mariska Hargitay Commends The 11-Year-Old Girl Who Used A Tip From “SVU” To Foil A Kidnapping
You may have seen footage of a little girl named Alyssa who almost got kidnapped at a Florida bus stop. Turns out that Alyssa used some tactics she learned from a little show called Law & Order: SVU to make sure the scum who tried to kidnap her could be identified by police. And now Sergeant Olivia Benson herself, Mariska Hargitay, is praising Alyssa. While it’s pretty fucked up that an 11-year-old needs to be trained in how to avoid kidnapping, I’m going to slow clap for Alyssa’s fast-thinking skills.
Entertainment Weekly says that before the scary incident went down on Tuesday morning, Alyssa was mixing some blue slime while waiting for the school bus. A white SUV then pulled up and a man jumped out and ran toward Alyssa while holding a knife. She tried to run away from him but he caught her. As he tried to drag Alyssa to his SUV, she fought and smeared slime all over him before he gave up trying to kidnap her and ran off. The suspect, who has been identified as 30-year-old Jared Stanga, was found and arrested just a few hours later. He was charged with the attempted kidnapping of a child under 13, as well as aggravated assault and battery. His bail was set at $1.5 million. He’s still in police custody. All thanks to a TV education!
Alyssa told Today the man was carrying a knife when he came at her. The brave middle schooler amazingly had the presence of mind to wipe some of the blue slime she was playing with onto her attacker’s arms — something she did purposely, inspired by watching SVU.
“She said, “Mom, I had to leave some sort of evidence behind, like on Law & Order SVU,” Alyssa’s mother told the Pensacola News Journal. “We’ve watched probably every episode on Hulu. She’s a smart cookie, she thinks on her toes. She got that slime everywhere.”
Slime Warrior Alyssa told Today:
“I knew that that might be better evidence if the cops do find him.”
Mariska got wind of this story and posted about it to Instagram, calling Alyssa a “BRAVE, Strong and Smart young woman,” and joking that the SVU team would have to “add slime to their crimefighting gear.” I would love to see Olivia Benson whipping slime balls at bad guys. Get into it!
During this morning’s episode of Today, Mariska was able to talk to Alyssa and give her props:
“I just want to tell you how blown away me and all of my squad are and I think the whole world right now that you had the forethought and the wherewithal to do what you did, and I am just blown away.”
An 11-year-old girl in Florida used knowledge gained watching “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” to fight off an attacker and help police catch him. She got a special surprise from #SVU star @Mariska Hargitay. @KerryNBC has the story. pic.twitter.com/Gaxf9IGftT
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 21, 2021
Oh sure, when a little girl saves herself from a kidnapping using skills from Law & Order it’s cute, but when I try to provide medical advice because of my years of watching Grey’s Anatomy it’s “misrepresentation,” and an “illegal, unlicensed medical practice.” Double-standards, much!? But seriously, since Law & Order loves to pull their episodes from the headlines, you know Alyssa’s sliming of a piece of slimy shit is going to make it into an episode. And they better give Alyssa a check and a writing credit for that!
Pic: Wenn.com