EDITOR’S NOTE: FOX 4 originally reported no weapons were found inside the car. On Wednesday (May 29), a victim involved in the incident said he had a knife.
LEAWOOD, Kan. — A recent graduate of Blue Valley North High School was arrested early Tuesday morning after a woman accused him of stalking her after she left the Price Chopper at 133rd & Mission Road around 11:00 p.m. Monday.
The woman said the man — identified as Eric Kaplan, 18, of Leawood, Kan., — walked toward the front of the grocery store as she was walking out, but he never went inside. Instead, she said Kaplan got back into his car and started following her.
The woman said she turned onto her street and made a loop in a cul-de-sac. When she passed Kaplan, she said he was now wearing a ski mask.
She called police from her cell phone and they instructed her to continue to drive until they could get to her. At 125th and Metcalf police intercepted the woman and Kaplan.
Police said they did not find a weapon on him, but the victim said she told police the teen had a black ski mask, gloves, lubrication and drug paraphernalia. She said he also found a knife.
Police credit the woman for being as attentive as she was.
“She was alert, observant, had her eyes open and paying attention and that was a definite plus in this case,” Overland Park, Kan., police officer Michelle Koos said.
Kaplan was arrested and bond was set at $1,500. Kaplan was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor stalking.
Kaplan is reportedly an accomplished pianist and was to attend the UMKC Conservatory of Music.
