When a toddler was not able to find her parents, and a Good Samaritan stepped in to help her find them. However, his good deed took a turn for the worse after he was mistaken as a kidnapper and a Child Predator.
The man is from Lakeland, Florida and police from the area said he fled the area because he feared for his and his family’s safety due to the misinformation about his identity that made rounds on social media. Aside from being mislabeled as a kidnapper and a child predator, the missing toddler’s father also beat him.
How the child got lost
The child got lost over the weekend as the two-year-old wandered away from her parents who were at a softball game at a sports complex in Lakeland. The man accused of trying to take away the child reportedly saw the toddler and believed she was lost, so he decided to help her.
Lakeland Police Department said in a statement that the man walked with the girl and tried to talk to her in an attempt to have her point to her parents. A witness backed the man’s claims about him trying to help the child find her parents. According to Global News, the Good Samaritan kept pointing at random people and asked the child if they were her parents. However, other bystanders said that they saw a man walking towards a playground and feared that the man was trying to kidnap the missing toddler.
Good Samaritan was beaten by toddler’s father and two other men
The father of the toddler spotted the man and the missing toddler. The father then approached the man together with two other men. The three guys punched the Good Samaritan several times. The father said he saw the Good Samaritan and his daughter walking towards the parking lot, so he thought he was really going to take his daughter away.
He added he also thought of wanting to kill the man who was holding his daughter’s hands.
Despite police saying that the beaten man did nothing wrong, the father of the child wanted to press charges against him. The Good Samaritan, on the other hand, did not seek charges for being beaten noting that he understands the father of the missing toddler.
Police warn netizens of sharing wrong information
Because of the incident and the man being mislabeled as a kidnapper and a child predator, Lakeland Police Department warned citizens to carefully curate what they should share and what they should not as it could victimize an innocent person. It is unclear if the man has gotten back to his home in Florida.
