Tacoma man charged with kidnapping girlfriend in Kent

A 30-year-old Tacoma man faces a second-degree kidnapping domestic violence charge after he allegedly forced his girlfriend into his vehicle in Kent.

Abel Lopez Valdez reportedly forced the woman into his vehicle at about 5:38 p.m. on March 14 in the parking lot of the Blinker Tavern, 206 Washington Ave. N., as other people attempted to intervene on the woman’s behalf to protect her, according to charging documents.

Valdez is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 1 in the GA courtroom of the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Bail was set at $50,000.

Kent Police booked Valdez into jail March 14. He was released March 15 on bond, according to King County jail records.

“The defendant was observed arguing with the victim at Blinkers Tavern,” Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Emmanuelle Dinca wrote in charging papers filed March 19. “He was then seen pushing the victim out of the bar away from observers as she continued arguing with him and kept trying to pull away from him. He was then observed by multiple third party witnesses pulling her into a vehicle as the victim was doing everything she could to avoid getting into the vehicle, and her head ‘whiplashing’ as she was being forced into the vehicle by the defendant.”

One person attempted to get in front of the vehicle to stop it, but stepped aside to avoid being struck, according to court documents. Another person followed Valdez’s vehicle and reportedly saw him and the woman fighting in the vehicle.

The vehicle stopped at Value Village and the woman exited the car and attempted to run away, but a witness reported Valdez reportedly grabbed her and dragged her back into the vehicle before leaving.

Kent Police located the vehicle and pulled it over in the 15200 block of SE 240th Street, where they took Valdez into custody, about 4 miles from where the incident began at the Blinker Tavern.

An officer reportedly saw tufts of hair near the center console of the vehicle that matched the blonde hair of the woman in the vehicle.

The woman told an officer that she had dated Valdez for almost a year and they are from Mississippi, but are living at his mother’s homein Tacoma. An officer noticed the woman had bruising on her face, a bump under her eye and a bruise on a bicep. The woman’s family later told police that Valdez reportedly had physically abused her in Mississippi.

With help from Renton-based Project Be Free, officers found a place for the woman to stay. The woman filled out a domestic violence form where she stated Valdez had grabbed her by the arm to force her into the vehicle and later grabbed her hair and struck her in the face, according to court documents.

Valdez reportedly told an officer that his girlfriend got mad at him in the bar because he was talking with another female, according to police. They started to argue and Valdez said they should leave. He denied he assaulted her and said she went into the car on her own free will.