COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A Cobb County mother has her two kids home safe after someone tried to kidnap her two-year-old son during a trip to Walmart last week.
Caroline Miller told Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers she took her four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son to the store on Cobb Parkway in Acworth last Tuesday to get some last-minute items for an upcoming vacation.
She said her daughter wanted to ride the motorized wheelchair, but when they were almost done shopping, she said it stopped working in one of the pharmacy aisles.
She said that’s when 56-year-old Mahendra Patel approached her asking for help finding Tylenol.
“When I pointed my arm out this way to say this is where it was, that is when he reached down, put both of his hands on Jude, and grabbed him out of my lap,” Miller said
She said it happened so fast.
“I’m like ‘No, no, not a, what are you doing?’ He pulled him,” Miller said. “I pulled him back. We’re tug of warring.”
She said Patel then walked off, bought the Tylenol, and left. Police say security cameras caught the entire exchange.
“We saw him checking out, but before we could really do anything, he was gone,” Miller said.
Three days later police arrested Patel.
“We were able to see what car he got into, we used our flock cameras in the city, was able to get a tag number and track him down,” Sgt. Eric Mistretta with the Acworth Police Department said.
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Miller would like to see Walmart have stronger security.
However, she said it’s important for mothers to know self-defense and to always be vigilant.
She also said she taught her kids what to do in dangerous situations.
“She knows to scream now,” Miller said. “He knows to kick and bite to get away.”
Patel is now in the Cobb County Jail on kidnapping, simple assault, and simple battery charges.
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