Independence man charged after allegedly kidnapping woman from lawn

An Independence man is facing a third-degree kidnapping charge after allegedly taking a woman from an Independence residence, according to an Independence probable cause statement.

On May 29, Independence police officers were dispatched to the residence where the alleged kidnapping occurred, according to court documents. There, they spoke with a witness who claimed he had seen two men and one woman in front of the residence arguing.

The witness told officers he was familiar with the woman as she “had past issues in the neighborhood,” according to court documents. He told police the woman was “screaming very loud” and had “thrown herself on the ground.”

The woman was picked up from the ground by one of the men and put inside a red Cadillac sedan, according to court documents. A second witness told officers he watched the men drag the woman through the front yard as she screamed for help. The two men allegedly put her into a car and drove away.

A third witness told officers she knew the victim was “not supposed to be at the address,” and that the woman had been in an argument with Eric Hudson, the defendant, over a firearm she had allegedly stolen from him, according to court documents.

Additional witnesses provided the address to which the Cadillac had been driven, according to court documents. A resident told officers the occupants of the vehicle were in a room in the house.

Court documents state that Hudson walked toward the front door from the back of the house and was detained. As officers swept the house, they heard a woman’s voice.

Officers told the woman to come out of the room she was in, and she said she was “told to stay in the room,” according to court documents. She was “visibly frightened and shaking.” Officers removed her from the residence.

In an interview at the scene, the woman identified Hudson and a juvenile as the pair who had taken her away in the car, according to court documents. She alleges the pair ordered her to get into the car.

When she refused, the woman was pushed into the back of the vehicle, according to court documents. Hudson allegedly said, “You think I’m playing?” before he showed a firearm.

The victim’s boyfriend, who was interviewed on the scene, gave police a similar account, according to court documents.

In an interview with police, Hudson allegedly admitted to being at the address, according to court documents. He told officers he needed “to get the victim out of there because she was yelling, screaming and causing a scene.”

He allegedly admitted to yelling at the woman and said he “escorted” her to the back seat of the car. Hudson also told officers he grabbed the woman by her belt loop “so she wouldn’t run off.”

During a sweep of the residence, officers observed “an illicit lab/grow operation” in one of the rooms, according to court documents. Multiple firearm magazines were found at the scene.

No further court dates have been set in Hudson’s case.