This is from ABC's Good Morning America via Yahoo!
A Florida woman was aided by a group of teenagers she didn't know this weekend when a man police say appears to have mental problems allegedly attempted to kidnap her daughter and nephew in a Tampa-area recreational park.
Sharaya Smith, 28, was with her 4-year-old daughter and 3-year-old nephew at Lisa Lake Park in New Port Richie, Fla., Saturday when she was approached by 34-year-old Bienvenido Cintron, who began uttering strange phrases, police said.
"I am Obama. I have been sent by God to cleanse the country of drug dealers and prostitutes," Cintron said, according to a police report filed by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.
After she told the kids to get down from the slide they'd been playing on, Cintron allegedly attempted to pull the kids away from her. Cintron then allegedly began to pull on her daughter Tatiana Ortega's hair and arm, and called her nephew Dante a drug dealer, according to the police report.
Smith tried to get away from the park and into the safety of a lit parking lot as she and the kids were being attacked, according to the police report. Soon her brother Chad arrived with his car to pick them up, the report stated. It is unclear at which point she contacted him, or whether he had already planned to meet them.
It was while Smith scrambled to put the two kids into the vehicle that a group of teenagers who saw what was happening approached the scene, according to the police report. To help protect Smith and the kids from Cintron, they circled around the three, creating a divide between them and their assailant, Sharaya Smith told police.
Once the kids were in the car, Cintron attempted to grab at Dante through a partially open door, Sharaya Smith told police. He also spit on the car, which was later used for DNA evidence to identify him as the attacker, police said.
Chad Smith's daughter Shaylin told investigators that once Sharaya Smith had gotten into the car and they were driving away from the park, Cintron approached the group of teenagers, who were at that point walking away. Cintron later said injuries he sustained on Saturday were from a group of unknown teens, according to police.
"At this point we haven't found teenagers that he said he scuffled with," Douglas Tobin with the Pasco Sheriff's Office told ABCNews.com. "We don't know for sure if it was the same teens."
Cintron was quickly located at his home in Port Richie by investigators, and after he was positively identified by Sharaya Smith, he was arrested.
Tobin said police have had run-ins with Cintron before, and that that he believes that the man suffers from mental health issues.
"He was not very coherent," he said. "He made very little sense as we were trying to talk to him."
Cintron has been charged with attempted kidnapping and attempted burglary. He is being held at the Land O' Lakes Jail on $150,000 bond.
Hopefully now this guy can get the help he needs.
7 comments:
The world is full of quacks. At least this guy has an excuse for being an asshole, i.e., mental illness. I know there are far too many out there that don't have an excuse. They're just evil.
I reserve "evil" for a limited category of people. I think people are weak and misguided and, yes, crazy. I have trouble condemning the real crazies for their problems -- but I do support people who intervene and protect others, even from the crazies.
Those teens really are brave and should be lauded as heroes. I have a general rule regarding teenagers: I don't like 'em -- but these kids I'd make an exception for. (And then they'd still laugh at me and say "Look at that old guy with his jowls!")(But I'd let them get away with it.)
Isn't it great to hear about a group of teens doing something good. It seems the bad ones get all the press so I'm glad you're publicizing this story.
What a whacko. It's good to hear that teenagers silk have a heart to help.
I agree with the others. It's great that those teens stepped up.
Indeed, the issues of mental health and mental health awareness, have to be addressed. Thankfully, with our universal health care, which includes the resources of mental health care, the help is readily available.
Teens often get a bad rap. Often totally unjustified. Good on those teens.
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