Man tries to kidnap child during Race for the Cure in Seattle

SEATTLE — Seattle police said a 35-year-old man was arrested after he grabbed a 4-year-old boy and tried to pull him away from his family during a race.

The boy’s family was participating in Sunday’s Komen Puget Sound Race for the Cure around the Seattle Center.

Just before 9:30 a.m., a stranger approached the child and grabbed him, pulling him away from his aunt’s hand at Fifth Avenue and Broad Street, police said.

The child’s aunt confronted the man and told him to let go.  The man freed the child and ran from the scene.   The child was not hurt.

Police said the child’s father and uncle followed the man to Fourth Avenue and Cedar Street, where they alerted a Seattle police officer who was doing traffic control for the event.

The officer took the man into custody and called for patrol officers.

According to family members, another family approached them while they were following the man and told them that the same man had tried to grab another child earlier on the route before he grabbed the 4-year-old.  Officers said they were unable to locate the earlier victim, witnesses or family.

The 35-year-old suspect was later booked into the King County Jail on kidnapping charges.  The jail register showed Tra Young was booked on investigation of kidnapping.

Detectives will conduct the follow-up investigation.

KIRO