A 35-year-old Festus man is expected to be charged with filing a false police report after telling police officers that a man tried to abduct his 2-year-old daughter at noon Sunday (May 1) on the Walmart parking lot, 519 S. Truman Blvd., said Crystal City Police Capt. Mike Pruneau.
The father said his daughter was inside his vehicle when the man allegedly tried to abduct her.
The father also told officers he had gotten out of his vehicle and knocked the man to the ground as he allegedly tried to open the back door where the child was seated.
Then, the man reportedly got up and ran off, the father said.
Officers reviewed a security video that showed the father talking through the driver’s window with a man, but the man made no attempt to take the child from the back seat before he walked away, Pruneau said.
He said the man later called the Police Department and admitted there had been no abduction attempt, but not before posting a complaint on a website that Crystal City Police had refused to investigate the incident.
“He called the Police Department and was crying (when he admitted the deception),” Pruneau said.
Police did arrest the man who approached the car because he was under a notice of trespass from Walmart.
“The (trespassing) guy said he never tried to take the kid,” Pruneau said. “Sgt. (Wes) Besore watches the video. The guy approaches the driver’s side and asks for money, then he slowly walks off. The driver never got out of the car.”
Filing a false police report is a misdemeanor that will be filed in Municipal Court.