A man’s attempt at kidnapping a teenage boy in Florida was thwarted by an alert neighbor who intervened at the right time.
The suspect, George Pratt, 65, was arrested and booked on suspicion of battery and armed kidnapping by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
“Every time I think about it my emotions get up and down,” Christopher Williams, the neighbor who intervened, told CBS News Monday evening.
The 13-year-old boy’s mother, Breanna Harden said Williams “is my hero because I could have lost my child and he was there.”
The alleged abduction took place Saturday as the young boy and his siblings were taking out the trash at a Pembroke Park apartment complex.
“When they were coming back, the guy handed my two little children water and my two little children ran, but when my oldest son tried to run, he grabbed him by the back of his jacket,” Harden told Local 10 News. “And when he grabbed him by the back of his jacket, he snatched him by his arm and tried to drag him into his apartment.”
Williams witnessed the incident and intervened by asking Pratt if he had some beer.
“I asked him what they were up to, kind of to distract him a little bit,” Williams said. “I asked him if he had another beer, just to deescalate the situation.”
“As the young man turned around he gave me a look, it was just a look of fear. That’s when something said I need to intervene,” the neighbor added.
The three of them then entered Pratt’s house, where Williams then checked the fridge for some beer before turning around to find Pratt brandishing a gun.
“As I looked in the fridge, he ran towards the door, closed the door shut, and reached for a firearm,” said Williams. “As he grabbed the firearm, I ran over, grabbed his wrist, restrained his arm from, you know, just him being able to put the firearm in a ready position to fire, and as I grabbed his wrist to restrain the firearm, I told the kid to run home.”
Williams also left the apartment after pushing the gun away. Meanwhile, the teenager ran back to his parents, who then called the police and told officials about the series of events.
“He’s a little shaken but he’s fine,” Harden said about her son.
Williams is also glad the teenager was not harmed. “People just tell me that I was in the right place at the right time to help somebody else, and I’m truly glad that I was able to help the young man,” he added.
Pratt was held on a $76,000 bond following his arrest for the alleged abduction.
Neighbors that have known Pratt for years said it is hard to believe the accusations.
“He’s been around young children all the time, never been touchy, feely, rapey, nothing, so its like why all of a sudden now? No one knows him for that,” one neighbor told Local 10 News.
