Abduction arrest: Girl says baby brother’s scream saved her

Thanks to the viral video of an attempted child abduction, a man is now under arrest and charged with attempted kidnapping and indecent assault.

As the Los Angeles Times earlier reported, a man tried to abduct a 10-year-old girl off a south Philadelphia sidewalk on Tuesday as she was walking home from a nearby store with her 2-year-old brother. The incident was caught by a surveillance camera.

The man approached the girl from behind and put his hand over her mouth, and then tried to cart her off.

The girl’s little brother screamed -- louder than his sister had ever heard him -- the Associated Press reported from a Thursday news conference. The girl credited her brother with stopping the attack.

The video led to tips about the suspect’s identity. According to the AP, Philadelphia Police Capt. John Darby said the video forced suspect Carlos Figueroa-Fagot to come forward.

Carlos Figueroa-Fagot (fih-guh-ROH-ah fa-GO) couldn’t “walk, talk or breathe” on the streets of Philadelphia after the video, Darby said.

The Philly Police blog said “community outcry pressured Figueroa-Fagot to turn himself in to police.” The blog championed the arrest of the 33-year-old suspect as a “shining example of the success we can have when citizens partner with the Police Department to jointly rid our streets of crime.”

The AP reported that Figueroa-Fagot was previously charged with sexual offenses against a minor. The charges in February 2011 in Philadelphia were later dropped.

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