Home security camera catches stranger grabbing 6-year-old in front of child’s home
By Karin Johnson
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HAMILTON, Ohio (WLWT) — A Hamilton man is accused of trying to kidnap a 6-year-girl from her front yard, and it’s all caught on camera.
Footage from a security camera shows the child throwing out trash in a can by the curb outside of the family’s home on East Avenue in Hamilton.
In the video, there’s a man walking down the sidewalk. He stops and touches her and then grabs her in what looks like an attempt to pull her down the sidewalk.
The child screams and gets away.
Deric Mcpherson, 33, of Hamilton was charged with gross sexual imposition and abduction.
According to court documents, he “bent down and grabbed the girl’s (redacted). The girl attempted to move away from the defendant. The defendant then grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled her along the sidewalk.”
“All I hear is blood-curdling scream,” said the girl’s mother, Mandie.
We are only identifying her by her first name to protect the identity of the child.
Mandie said she and her husband Ricky were just steps away inside their home.
“I come in, like, ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong?’ She says, ‘Somebody tried to kidnap me. Some man tried to take me, and he grabbed my private parts,'” Mandie said.
Mandie and Ricky tried to run after the man. Then Ricky decided he’d have better luck chasing the man, who he said he’s never seen before, with his car.
“And he tried to dip in and out of alleys, through people’s yards to try to get away from me,” Ricky said. “The only thing that kept running through my mind was, ‘I can’t let him do this to another kid.'”
Surveillance video provided to WLWT by Terry’s Automotive shows what happened next.
Mcpherson can be seen on foot in front of a business on Route 4. Ricky is in his car as Mcpherson tries to hide behind cars. Mcpherson then crosses Route 4.
“He immediately cut into the parking lot behind Paul’s Auto,” Ricky said. “I went around the other side to see where he was at, and I found him sitting inside an old Dodge caravan,”
Hamilton police arrested Mcpherson at the scene.
Mandie and Ricky said they’ve had the stranger danger talk with their daughter before and are glad they did.
“I’ve always told her that if somebody ever touches her, talks to her or grabs her, make a scene, scream as loud as she can and fight. She screamed bloody murder and pulled against him and got away from him,” Ricky said.
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