Glen Hyderman and his 12-year-old daughter, who was nearly abducted on her way home and was saved by two nameless strangers in Toronto, Ont., Wednesday, December 16, 2009. (QMI/Ian Robertson)

TORONTO - An Etobicoke schoolgirl thought she it was a bad dream when a balding, middle-aged man tried to force her into his Cadillac.

"I thought I was dreaming when he grabbed me," the 12-year-old said yesterday in her family's Mimico neighbourhood apartment.

The John English Public School student asked permission to run home around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, keen to watch TV after eating a Boston cream donut with her widowed dad and uncle in a cafe.

She had been street-proofed earlier by her two brothers, her elder sister and an aunt.

Her dad, Glen Hyderman, said he briefly hesitated, then urged his daughter to "run home."

Two blocks away, just north from Lakeshore Blvd. W. on tiny Allen Ave., a man approached her on the sidewalk, beside his grey Caddy.

The stranger asked: "Did I know where the liquor store was?" the youngster said. Then while pointing down the street, "he grabbed me."

The girl screamed and braced her feet against the car.

"I said 'stop! and he said 'no, no', " said the girl, whose dad asked that her name be withheld.

"He tried to put his hand over my mouth. I was scared."

Hyderman said his daughter had been a reading tutor for the child of a passing couple, who rarely use Allen Ave., and "they knew he wasn't her dad."

Another pedestrian walking by with his brother thought at first the alleged abducter was the girl's father, but said "when he tried to force her into the car, I knew he had plans and they weren't good."

"We went for his keys," the man said, adding he didn't want his name published. "He didn't get a chance.

"I wanted to punch him out, but the other witness deterred us," he said. "He told him to wait in the car while his wife was on her cellphone, calling 911.

"Anybody would have done it," he shrugged.

"Those guys were heroes," Peter Hyderman insisted, calling his niece "a hero, too."

Det.-Const. Martin Warnock said the rescuers "did more than they realize," and will be recommended for citations.

The youngster, who said she was crying and asking for her dad, was comforted in the couple's van.

As Hyderman ran up, fetched by a witness, "I said 'dad, don't have a heart attack', " she said calmly, sharing his smile. "He held my hand."

Back home after talking to police, "who said they were proud of me," she fell asleep on the couch.

Away from school yesterday, she spent time with girlfriends and her little niece, talked to her grandmother and visited other relatives.

Police circulated the suspect's photo, seeking other victims. Isaias Lopez recalled his niece crying earlier that afternoon.

"On Royal York Rd., she said a guy was sitting in his silver car, talking on his cellphone and looking at her funny," he said. "She said he was rubbing himself."

Joseph Troisi, 53, who police said frequents the area, is charged with attempted abduction of a person under 14. He is also charged with two counts of criminal harassment after two 10-13-year-old girls complained of a man trying Tuesday to lure them into a 2009 Cadillac CTS near Royal York and Mimico Ave.

Anyone with more information should call police at 416-808-7474.

IAN.ROBERTSON@SUNMEDIA.CA