When a mom saw a man pull down her 2-year-old daughter’s diaper and attempt to sodomize the child on the playground, she immediately sprang into action.
William Bates Jr., a 24-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, man, faces felony charges of first degree attempted sodomy and attempted statutory sodomy with somebody younger than 12-years-old, reports WDAF.
“I don’t get how anyone would hurt a child like that,” Christa Moore, the toddler’s mother, told KCTV.
Moore said she noticed Bates “eyeballing” her daughter, who was playing on the swing at their local park on March 10. He then reportedly walked up behind the toddler, pulled her off the swing, grabbed her by the hips and pulled down her diaper, according to court documents, WDAF notes.
At that point, the suspect allegedly lifted his shirt, pulled down his pants and started to thrust his hips against the 2-year-old.
“He walked up toward my daughter and the next thing I know, he’s grabbing her pants and ripped them down,” Moore told KCTV. “He ripped her diaper when he did it.”
That’s when Moore charged at him.
When Moore approached him, Bates tripped and fell to the ground. She jumped on top of him and began throwing punches while he was down.
“I just wanted to hurt him,” the mom told KCTV.
Bates reportedly broke free and ran away from her, although family friend Devan Barnes saw what happened and pursued the man. Barnes chased the suspect into a fenced-in parking lot and trapped him there until police arrived and took over.
“If cops didn’t show up, I was going in,” said Barnes, adding that he intervened because “that’s just the right thing to do.”
Moore ran to a nearby homeless support center and phoned police, who arrived on the scene and arrested Bates shortly after. The mother was able to positively identify the suspect, whom she had seen around the area before, from a police photo.
Police found marijuana and a white vial full of an unknown fluid that smelled of chemicals on Bates, notes WDAF. He told police somebody near the park gave him a cigarette, but that he doesn’t remember anything else besides waking up in a fenced area and getting arrested.
Bates also told police that he thought he had been drugged, according to KCTV.
Authorities are holding Bates on a $150,000 cash bond.
Businesses near the park say they hope to see increased safety measures in the area, KSHB reports.