Police: Girl's Rape Suspect Watched Us Search For Him On Live TV'Intense' Greenfield Search Ends With 1 Arrest; 2 Taken For QuestioningPOSTED: 6:29 pm EDT May 7,
2009 PITTSBURGH -- City police officers and a bloodhound searched all over a steep Greenfield hillside for a man accused of snatching an 11-year-old off the street after school and pulling her into an abandoned home to sexually assault her."I never thought this would happen," the child's father told WTAE Channel 4 Action News. "That's my daughter, my baby, my little angel, and somebody hurt her. "While the search continued, according to police, Clyde Elmer Haidle was watching live television coverage on the 5 p.m. news at a woman's home and telling his friend, "I might be in trouble."Just minutes later, officers arrived on Naylor Street and took Haidle away after finding him "in the floorboard underneath the carpet in a trap door" on the second floor of the house, Pittsburgh police Sgt. Brian Elledge said.Video:
Two other people in the home -- including the woman, who said she's Haidle's longtime girlfriend and "he's not that type of guy" -- were taken for questioning after the search that officers described as intense and dynamic.An aerial view from Sky 4 showed officers on a hilly slope with a few homes and a very long set of city steps leading up from Saline Street, behind St. Rosalia Church. Slideshow: Photos From The Search Scene According to police, the girl told them she had just gotten off her school bus and was walking home when a white man sitting on the porch of the abandoned house grabbed her by the arm, then forced her inside and assaulted her."I'm very hurt about it," said her father, who isn't being identified to protect the child. "I don't think it should have happened and there's no one to blame other than the guy that did it." Investigative: Street Has Been Known Problem For YearsThe girl said her attacker let her go, and she quickly darted up the street, where Shawn and Nina Kopa and their three young children were playing outside."We just seen her running from down by the church. She was just really running," Shawn Kopa said."We didn't know who she was," Nina Kopa said. "She just came up to us and started screaming, 'Help me, help me. I've been raped.'" Video: Watch Ari Hait's Interview With The KopasShawn Kopa said he brought the child inside and called 911, "and the police came within five minutes. They were pretty quick."Armed with tips from cooperating neighbors and a detailed description from the girl, Zone 4 officers searched for the 46-year-old Haidle until they arrived at the house on Naylor."He indicated that -- by watching the evening news -- that he observed the house and he observed that there was a reported sexual assault at that residence and he indicated to someone that he may be in trouble," Pittsburgh Police Detective Larry Scirotto said.The 11-year-old was taken to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh with her parents for an examination. Her condition was not immediately known."She was frantic," Shawn Kopa said. "You could see she was still in shock. Some of the stuff she was saying about what happened was, like, it wasn't in a story form. It was like she was just blurting different things out."Police said the 46-year-old Haidle -- who also has a McKeesport address -- is being held in the Allegheny County Jail on charges including rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
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