Four Girls Fight Off Would-Be Kidnapper at Summer Festival

The girls protected themselves the only way they knew how — kicking and scratching their attempted kidnapper and throwing a cup of iced coffee in his face.

That was the scene in Millington, Michigan, a small village with 1,000 residents situated 35 miles north of Flint, on the evening of Aug. 10. A 22-year-old man, identified as Bruce Hipkins, tried to abduct Allison Eickhoff, 11, her father and police said.

At about 10 p.m., Allison, her 13-year-old sister Lauren, and two of their friends were outside a Speedway convenience store, having just come from the village’s annual Old-Fashioned Summer Festival, where the community had gathered for street parties, tractor shows, a frog-jumping contest and a lively parade.

The man followed the girls out of the Speedway and across the street into a parking lot. According to the Millington Police, he grabbed Allison by the face and mouth and told her she was coming with him.

The three other girls sprang into action. “They threw iced coffee at him until he finally let go of Allison,” her father, Aaron Eickhoff, said. Hipkins then grabbed another girl by the hair and tried to drag her, too, police said.

The girls kicked and scratched him, Eickhoff said, grabbing at the attacker’s shirt until he let go. The man fled on foot, while the girls ran into a nearby hotel, the Millington Inn, crying for help.

Officers arrived and Eickhoff was called. “I slammed the phone down and ran out the door,” he said. “I was angry about it — how could this happen?”

He said authorities told him the man had developmental disabilities. “We have no idea who he is,” Eickhoff said. “We hope he gets the help he needs.”

Hipkins was located later that night walking down a village street, identified by the coffee stains on his shirt. He was taken into custody and charged with kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and criminal sexual assault, said the Tuscola County prosecutor, Mark Reene. Bail was set at $250,000, and he will appear in court next week.

Eickhoff was not surprised by his daughters’ response to the attack. “I always told them, ‘Go for the throat and the groin,'” he said.

At the same time, he wished they didn’t have to defend themselves at all. “The girls are saying they are all right,” he said. “But they are different, sensitive. We just try to hug them as much as possible.”