A Bexley child is safe thanks to her own quick-thinking and a concerned citizen’s actions during an attempted enticement.

A Bexley child is safe thanks to her own quick-thinking and a concerned citizen’s actions during an attempted enticement.

“We are so happy that she acted just as she should, and is okay,” said Shannon Baldwin, a mother living near the intersection where the attempt occurred.

A 12-year-old girl was crossing the street at Powell Avenue and Roosevelt Street Sunday afternoon when a man in a white car partially rolled down his window.

Bexley Police said the man offered the middle-school child candy and asked her to get into his vehicle.

The girl said ‘no’ and attempted to move away from the vehicle. Another driver noticed the activity and yelled. Officers say that Good Samaritan told the stranger to go away and said he was calling the police.

"I have not experienced anything like that with my children,” said Baldwin. “But I had just talked with them the other day about never approaching a car and the different scenarios.”

Some parents in Bexley said the attempted enticement has them taking extra efforts to walk with even older children to the park or school.

"We live in such a safe community that we're all lulled into this feeling that it doesn't happen in Bexley and clearly it sounds like there was an attempt so we need to arm our children with the knowledge of what to do," said Baldwin.

Before children went to school Monday, the Bexley Mayor alerted parents to the incident via social media.

Resident Linda Zupnick said not only did the social media message to use extra vigilance reach the community but those parents away from the area. Zupnick is caring for her two grandchildren while her son is in Copenhagen, but he reached out to her this morning with concern.

"I got an email this morning from them over in Copenhagen. It said 'Make sure you walk the kids to school', which we do every day," said Zupnick.

Bexley officers are hoping someone has information on the possible suspect driving a small white car with a black luggage rack on top and tinted windows.