A strange man attempted to kidnap a two-year-old out of his mother's arms at a Walmart in Georgia. 56-year-old Mahendra Patel approached Caroline Miller as she was shopping with her four-year-old daughter and baby boy, Jude. She had no idea that his intentions were sinister at first.
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This terrifying incident occurred on March 18 at a Walmart in Acworth. Patel came up and asked the mother where he could find Tylenol. Suddenly, when Miller took one arm off of Jude to point in a direction, Patel tried to pull him away from her.
Man Nearly Kidnaps 2-Year-Old From Mom's Arms In Walmart
Miller's daughter at the time was riding a motorized scooter in the store, according to the Daily Mail. It suddenly stopped working in the pharmacy section where Patel found them. The mother was still sitting on the scooter when he attempted to kidnap Jude.
"When I pointed my arm out this way to say this is where it was, that is when he reached down, put both of his hands on Jude, and grabbed him out of my lap," said Miller to WSBTV. It all happened so fast, but luckily, she was able to keep a good grip on him.
"I'm like 'No, no, not a, what are you doing?' He pulled him," the mother continued. "I pulled him back. We're tug of warring." As soon as he realized he wasn't getting anywhere, he let go, walked away, and bought his Tylenol as if nothing happened.
Although her son was safe, Miller couldn't do anything in that moment to stop him from fleeing. "We saw him checking out, but before we could really do anything, he was gone," she recalled. On the bright side, the cops managed to catch the entire incident on security cameras.
It only took three days of searching before the police found and arrested Patel. "We were able to see what car he got into," said Sgt. Eric Mistretta from Acworth Police Department. "We used our flock cameras in the city, was able to get a tag number and track him down."
The police charged Patel with kidnapping, simple assault, and simple battery charges. They are now holding the suspect in Cobb County Jail.
The only thing Miller wants out of this scary altercation is for Walmart to have stronger security, according to the outlet. But perhaps it served as a good lesson to teach her children what to do if something like that happens again. "She knows to scream now," Miller said. "He knows to kick and bite to get away."
