An attempt to kidnap an 11-year-old boy in Ciechanów was thwarted by a 16-year-old who scared the perpetrator away – admits the police. One of the city councilors applied for an award for the teenager. We already know that the boy will receive it from the president of Ciechanów on Monday.
– Next week there will be a meeting between the mayor of Ciechanów and the city guard commander with the 16-year-old – said Paulina Rybczyńska, spokeswoman for the local city hall, on Friday. As she noted, she cannot reveal the details of the planned meeting for now.
The 16-year-old started screaming and the driver drove away
On Monday before At 9, the Ciechanów police received a report that in the city center a man knocked over an 11-year-old riding a bicycle and then tried to pull him into a car parked nearby. The perpetrator fled in this car when passers-by reacted. Nothing happened to the boy. He was handed over to his mother's care.
In connection with the incident, a search for the perpetrator and an investigation were initiated. On the same evening, officers from Ciechanów detained a 38-year-old man in Warsaw, where he lived. After his arrest, he was charged with attempting to deprive himself of liberty and was taken into custody.
– We did not inform about it earlier, but a 16-year-old was the first to react. Seeing the whole situation, he ran to the other side of the road, shouting to the man to let the 11-year-old go, said on Friday the spokeswoman of the Ciechanów District Police Headquarters, Asst. Magda Sakowska. – The 16-year-old's reaction contributed to the perpetrator refraining from his actions and driving away – she added.
They want to give an award to a teenager
Ciechanowa councilor Anna Smolińska applied to the city president Krzysztof Kosiński to reward the 16-year-old. In her written application, she emphasized that thanks to the decisive intervention of the 16-year-old, the tragedy did not occur.
Smolińska pointed out that the intervening boy showed “incredible courage, firmly defending the attacked person, even though the attacker was much older and very aggressive.” The councilor noted that the form and method of rewarding the 16-year-old was left to the mayor of Ciechanów to choose.
Smolińska explained that she learned about the circumstances of the attempted kidnapping of the 11-year-old and the attitude of the 16-year-old who intervened from the Ciechanów police commander, with whom she talked shortly after the incident. – The behavior of this child, because 16 years old is still a child, was heroic. They should be particularly appreciated, especially at a time when anesthesia is unfortunately becoming more and more common, she added.
The driver had a previous criminal record
The prosecutor's office and the police determined that the 38-year-old, suspected of trying to kidnap an 11-year-old, is not related to the boy. It is also known that he was previously convicted of theft and burglary. During the interrogation, when he was charged with attempted deprivation of liberty, he refused to give any explanations. It was similar when the decision was made to detain him temporarily.
As the head of the Ciechanów District Prosecutor's Office, Przemysław Bońkowski, said on Friday, the circumstances of the case, especially related to the attitude of the suspect, “at the current stage of the proceedings indicate the need to take action to determine his sanity.”
– We will verify it. We will undoubtedly appoint experts who will assess the mental health of the suspect at the time of committing the act. Depending on this, we will take further actions, emphasized prosecutor Bońkowski.
Earlier, the Ciechanów police announced that in their operational activities in connection with the attempted kidnapping of an 11-year-old boy, the information provided by one of the witnesses of the attack turned out to be helpful – he remembered the make and registration number of the car in which the perpetrator drove away. This witness – as the police currently inform – is a different person than the 16-year-old who scared the perpetrator away.
Pursuant to Art. 189 of the Penal Code, whoever deprives a person of liberty is subject to the penalty of imprisonment from three months to 5 years, and if the deprivation of liberty concerns a person who is helpless due to, for example, his or her age or physical condition, the perpetrator is liable to imprisonment from 2 to 15 years.
Main photo source: KPP in Ciechanów