Workers at a Buckhead auto care retailer helped capture a man who attacked a 16-year-old girl as she waited for her school bus on Tuesday morning.
The student was waiting near Pep Boys Auto Parts & Service on Piedmont Road just before 7:30 a.m. when a man approached her, began choking her and tried to pull her to the ground and into the street, according to Atlanta Police and Pep Boys General Manager John Lingerfelt.
Lingerfelt said the girl was able to get away with the help of her mother, who was nearby. A Good Samaritan drove the mother and daughter to the nearby auto parts store, according to Fox 5 Atlanta, where they waited for police.
The girl was crying hysterically in the store. When workers found out what happened and spotted the suspect outside, they ran out to confront him. They were able to hold the suspect down until the police arrived just a couple of minutes later.
Police arrested Tansu Kanlica, 27-year-old white male pictured here, and charged him with misdemeanor battery. He is being held on $3,000 bond in the Fulton County Jail.
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