WHITE CENTER, Wash. — Police said a man walked into a fenced yard on the 10400 block of Third Avenue SW Sunday at around 6 p.m., grabbed a 3-year-old child, and tried to run away with the boy tucked under his arm.
Melissa Hines, the boy's mother, fought off the would-be kidnapper and got a black eye and bumps and bruises all over her body, but she and her child are fine.
"He actually picked up the kid and moved with him, so that's a kidnapping," said Sgt. Cindi West of the King County Sheriff's Office.
Hines chased the suspect, and he fell near the home's chain link fence.
"As he fell, my son fell with him," Hines told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Amy Clancy. "My son hit the ground and as soon as my son was on the ground, I jumped on top of my son, and held my son down. The guy came back over and was trying to get towards my son and get my son, that sort of thing, and that's when he started hitting and punching me. It seemed like he was trying to get him or he was upset that I stopped him."
Eventually, Hines said, the man gave up and got away.
The boy's father, Corey Hines, said that he was a little angry, "but more just protective."
On Monday, trackers with the King County Sheriff's Office were looking for leads.
The suspect is still at large. He is described as tall and lanky, and was wearing all black, including a black ski mask and black gloves.
If you have information about this crime you are asked to call the King County Sheriff's Office at 206-296-3311.
KIRO
