(NEW YORK) — A man has been arrested after he allegedly attempted to snatch a 6-year-old boy from the sidewalk during the Fourth of July weekend in busy Coney Island, according to the New York Police Department.
The boy was with his parents at the Brooklyn, New York, getaway when the boy was allegedly snatched from the crowded sidewalk.
“When I turned around, I noticed a man pick him up and run by way of the boardwalk,” father Roy Gantt told New York ABC station WABC about his son, Rah’Shem. “Once he saw us chasing him, he threw [Rah’Shem] down. It sounded like he hit his head on the concrete.”
Jonathan Robalino, 36, was detained on attempted abduction and is described as “emotionally disturbed,” the NYPD said.
Robalino has now been charged with assault and attempted kidnapping.
The boy was not seriously hurt when the man threw him to the ground, but he was taken to a local hospital and later released.
Gantt told WABC that he and the boy’s mother pinned Robalino to the ground before police arrived for about four minutes after chasing him down.
The investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
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