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Jacksonville man arrested for attempted kidnapping in St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man was arrested after a woman said he tried to force her into his SUV in St. Augustine on Wednesday, police said.

Police were called around 2:30 p.m. for a possible attempted kidnapping to Orange and Riberia streets.

Related: Jacksonville man accused of attempted kidnapping bonds out of jail

A 21-year-old woman told police she was walking on Orange Street when a man in a white Tahoe asked if she needed a ride several times.

She said no and told him to leave her alone, but he parked his car and walked up to her. He began telling her how beautiful she was and offered to smoke marijuana with her, police said.

The woman told him she doesn't do drugs and to leave her alone but he grabbed her arm, told her to come with him and pulled her toward his car, authorities said.

She pushed him and tried to walk away but he continued to follow and beg her. He finally left her alone when someone pulled up behind him and honked their car horn, police said.

The woman was inside a patrol car on the way to the police station when she saw a Tahoe matching the description of the suspect's vehicle. He appeared to be driving slowly next to a woman who was walking on a sidewalk.

The woman told police it was the exact SUV that approached her.

Police got the driver out of the car at gunpoint and identified him as 25-year-old William Ross Cesery III of Jacksonville.

Cesery saw the victim in a police car and told police he did not kidnap her before they told him why he was being detained. He was uncooperative and refused to talk to police, officials said.

Cesery was arrested for attempted kidnapping and taken to the county jail.

Action News Jax Crime and Safety expert Ken Jefferson said people can try and protect themselves from potential predators in cars by changing direction.

"It's going to take him time to turn his car around," Jefferson said. "Run in the opposite direction. If he comes back, then you want to try to make attention to yourself."

Public records show Cesery was arrested for reckless driving in Jacksonville in June and battery in St. Johns County in 2015. He was also a victim in a brawl at a Georgia-Florida game in 2012 and was hospitalized.

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Jacksonville man, 25, arrested after a woman reported an attempted kidnapping near Riberia and Orange streets in St. Augustine:

Posted by Action News Jax on Wednesday, September 14, 2016