Honoring Erica Pratt.

WHEREAS, Erica Pratt is a second grade student at the Mitchell Elementary School. She is three-feet, five-inches tall, weighs just over thirty pounds, and has a smile that lights up a room. In July 2002, she was abducted from her street in Southwest Philadelphia and taken to the Logan section of the city, where she was locked in the basement of a house; and

WHEREAS, This seven-year-old girl, alone in a dark room in the basement of a house she had never seen, remained composed enough to chew through the tape around her mouth and head and climb the basement steps. She climbed the steps, broke a window on the main floor, pushed out the screen and escaped; and

WHEREAS, The police and F.B.I. had been searching for Erica for twenty-four hours, and once she began calling for help, she found it in four young people nearby. They flagged down a police car, helped her off the porch, and made sure she was safe. She was examined and then returned to her family members, who were joyous to the point of tears to see her alive and well; and

WHEREAS, Erica demonstrated unusual character, courage, persistence and composure, not only in the way she handled her terrible ordeal but in how she responded in its aftermath. She is a delight to us all; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor Miss Erica Pratt for courage and persistence far beyond her young age.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Miss Erica Pratt as evidence of the very best wishes of this legislative body.

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