Driver who approached woman near school was lost, police say

A male driver who approached a young woman walking near the East Northport Middle School on Tuesday was asking for directions, Suffolk County police said Wednesday.

The school had issued an alert to the community on Tuesday about the encounter.

Officers from the Second Precinct conducted an investigation, spoke with the man and concluded, “He was asking the girl for directions,” police said Wednesday.

The male driver, about 35 to 40 years old, first asked the woman, 19, who was walking on Fifth Avenue, for directions to nearby Atlantic Street, the alert said. The school is on Fifth Avenue and the woman pointed the man in the direction of Atlantic Street, the alert said.

She kept walking but he circled back to approach her a second time, the alert said. This time, he said he was lost, and asked her to get in his sport utility vehicle, according to the alert.

The young woman refused and the driver drove off, the alert said.

Rob Banzer, superintendent of schools, issued a statement Wednesday that said the district “appreciates and respects the findings of the police investigation.”

With William Murphy