BOSTON (WHDH) - A 44-year-old man was sent for a mental health evaluation after police said he tried to urinate on the side of a house and kidnap a child in Boston Thursday.
Boston police in a statement said officers responded to the scene on Wentworth Street near 4:15 p.m. after receiving a report of a suspicious person.
Once on scene, police said, witnesses told them an unknown man had walked up to a house where several people were already gathered.
After trying to urinate on the house, police said the man allegedly “began to engage in conversation with a few children.”
Police said people told the man to leave the area. Rather than simply leaving, though, police said he grabbed a child by the back of the neck and tried to drag him toward the street.
Boston police said officers arrested Manuel Cardoso, of Boston on nearby Darlington Street after he was removed from the property and fled the scene.
Cardoso was charged with assault and battery on a child under 14 and kidnapping, according to police, and appeared in Dorchester District Court Friday.
After a doctor met with Cardoso, a judge ordered he undergo further evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital.
“He really can’t have any coherent conversation at all,” said Dr. Anne Johnson, a court forensic psychologist.
While Cardoso was in the courthouse, his sister told reporters he was badly beaten by the alleged victim’s family.
Back near the site of the incident, area resident Donald Graves shared his reaction to the incident and noted a busy local park.
“I drive down that street every day and there are kids playing in that park every day,” Graves said.
“It’s scary because there’s a lot of kids and they’re always riding their scooters up and down the streets,” Graves said. “So, that’s really concerning.”
Roy Chance, who goes to temple in the area, expressed his surprise as the incident happened during the daytime.
“They know right from wrong, and the people in the broad daylight. At what time, 4:30 in the afternoon, try to kidnap a kid? That’s completely wrong,” Chance said.
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