A Valley mom is outraged that a stranger she says tried to grab her daughter out of her car isn't facing the serious charges she thinks he deserves.
Shari Boone says her family was loading into the car at a park-and-ride at 19th Avenue and Dunlap after getting off the light rail when a man walked up and reached into her back seat for her 7-year-old daughter.
"It's obvious when someone's going to grab something, and he was going to grab her," Boone said.
Her husband was about to get into the front seat when he turned just in time and slid his body around the door to block the guy from making contact.
"The guy pushes my husband in the chest and says, 'Stop.' Stop what? Stop protecting his kids?" she asked.
At that point, she says the strange man turned and headed for her but she yelled and he backed off.
Boone waved down an off-duty security guard and says the man eventually got combative with him and the guard had to put him in a headlock to keep him from swinging while her husband helped pinned his legs down until police arrived.
"It was like a nightmare. This guy was like a monster, coming at my daughter, coming at me,” Boone said.
The suspect faces charge of misdemeanor assault for pushing her husband. Boone says the detective told her they can’t charge the man with attempted kidnapping because he never made physical contact with her daughter.
“He was coming at her, he had crossed the barrier of our car, that doesn't matter,” said Boone. “I'm furious.”
She says the suspect isn’t being held in jail because the assault is a misdemeanor charge. ABC15 is waiting for more case details from Phoenix police before releasing his name and mug shot, however we have learned he’s been arrested 54 times, mostly for public intoxication, drinking in public and assault.
He was also recently released from a jail sentence for felony assault.
