Homeless man tries to kidnap girl at Austin park: affidavit

Amanda Ruiz
·2 min read
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AUSTIN, Texas - Austin police say a homeless man tried to kidnap a girl while she was having a picnic with her family.

On Sunday, April 14, a family was enjoying a picnic at a park off South Pleasant Valley Road. During their time, police say a homeless man approached the family multiple times. An arrest affidavit identified him as 36-year-old Jeffrey Harpster.

The affidavit says Harpster began focusing on the 8-year-old girl who was with the family. He tried to grab her, claiming she was his niece and he had a responsibility to take her. When the girl’s father told him she was not his niece, Harpster became physically violent and began swinging his hands at the father.

Multiple family members jumped in and got Harpster to leave. Once on scene, police arrested Harpster for attempted kidnapping.

<div>Jeffrey Harpster</div>
Jeffrey Harpster

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock says this case is a prime example of how the community and APD worked together to limit this to just an attempt and not something worse.

"Those are the most successful cases that we will see is where you have the community and police working together, because it takes us time to get to a call, no matter how fast we may try to be, no matter how many officers we may even have, it's still going to take time for us to get places and the community stepping up to prevent things from happening until we can get there, and we can gain control of a scene, is an amazing partnership that we rely on in order to hold people accountable, in order to keep our city safe and to address crime," said Bullock.

On top of the attempted kidnapping, Harpster was also charged with drug possession for meth found on him. Bullock hopes Harpster is kept off the streets and far away from children.

"An attempted kidnapping is something that absolutely must be taken seriously. It's someone who is a clear and present threat to the general public, and particularly the most vulnerable population being small children," he said.

Harpster is being held on an $11,000 bond.