Apprehended Running Down Street Naked, Fights With Police
On the first day of school returning from holiday break, an Austin woman kidnapped an eight-year-old old girl from the elementary school playground, dropped the child off at her home with her confused husband and then ran down the street naked, according to authorities.
Brittany Hurtt, 34, of the 200 block of North Mann Avenue allegedly clashed with Austin police when she was arrested Jan. 2.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Hurtt had allegedly tried to abduct another young girl immediately before the kidnapping, with the would-be victim later telling authorities Hurtt grabbed her wrist and said, “Let’s start a family.”
Austin Police were notified by school authorities that a woman had climbed over a fence and abducted an eight-year-old girl from an elementary school playground and fled in her car around noon on Jan. 2.
Hurtt’s husband later flagged down officers with the abducted 8-year-old in his vehicle and told them his wife had come home with the child and then proceeded to undress and run down the street, according to court documents.
The child was quickly returned to the school, and an officer pursued Hurtt, who was “running in the street nude carrying two white trash bags,” the court document read.
Hurtt struck a police officer’s vehicle and tried to “yank the door open” before officers handcuffed her and struggled to get her into the police car as she resisted, according to court records.
Once in the vehicle, police report Hurtt started “kicking the back windows” while screaming and refused to put on clothes that had been brought by her husband.
When officers tried to put Hurtt on a gurney so she could be taken by Scott County EMS to the emergency room for evaluation, she allegedly kicked an officer in the hand and was “making statements about how the children were being taught by the computers and all the children needed to die,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
While being evaluated by Dr. Shane Avery in the Scott Hospital ER, the physician advised that Hurtt said “she knew she was under arrest because she kidnapped a kid,” according to the court document.
Austin Elementary School said in a statement that the campus was on lockdown after the incident occurred and that the abducted child had been “returned within minutes.”
“Austin Elementary is reassessing playground protocols to increase security and safety for students,” read a statement, posted on Facebook.
Austin Elementary recently completed construction of a new Elementary school campus that was to improve security for students and school personnel.
During a Jan. 9 Scott County School District 1 board of trustees meeting, School Superintendent Trevor Jones said that the school will be making several changes in the wake of the incident, including adding additional height to its existing playground fence.
Hurtt has been charged in Scott Circuit Court with two counts of kidnapping, two counts of
battery on a police officer, criminal trespass, resisting law enforcement, public nudity, and public indecency.
On Friday, Jan. 6, she posted a $7,500 bond and was released from Scott County Jail. However, around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8, Hurtt was booked back into Scott County Jail on charges of domestic battery and failure to comply with a court order.
As a result on Monday, Jan. 9, Scott Circuit Court Judge Jason Mount revoked her bond from the kidnapping charges and she remains in custody at Scott County Jail.