Neighbor saves boy from armed kidnapping in Pembroke Park, police say

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – A neighbor’s quick thinking saved a boy from being kidnapped by another neighbor in Pembroke Park over the weekend, according to the town’s police department.

Police said the incident happened just after 2:45 p.m. Saturday at an apartment complex in the 3600 block of Southwest 52nd Avenue.

“He’s doing fine, he’s a little shaken up, but he’ll be fine,” said the 13-year-old boy’s mother, Breanna Harden.

Maj. Ra Shana Dabney-Donovan, a spokesperson for the Pembroke Park Police Department, said a man known as “Mr. George” approached the boy, grabbed him and attempted to force him into his apartment.

Harden said it happened after her children were taking out the garbage.

“When they were coming back, the guy handed my two little children water and my two little children ran, but when my oldest son tried to run, he grabbed him by the back of his jacket,” she said. “And when he grabbed him by the back of his jacket, he snatched him by his arm and tried to drag him into his apartment.”

Another neighbor witnessed the kidnapping and intervened by asking “Mr. George,” later identified as 65-year-old George Rudolph Pratt, for a beer, she said.

Pratt released the boy from his grip and all three went inside Pratt’s home, police said.

The neighbor, whose name is Chris, then looked inside the refrigerator, noticed there was no beer and turned to see Pratt reaching toward the top of his China cabinet, according to police.

Authorities said Pratt grabbed a gun.

According to an arrest report, the neighbor grabbed Pratt’s right hand and held it down, asking him what he was doing.

The neighbor did so knowing Pratt’s left hand is paralyzed, the report states.

The boy took the opportunity to run from the apartment and the neighbor pushed the gun away and followed the boy out, the report states.

“The guy ended up trapping Chris and my son in the house and holding him at gunpoint and then at that point, Chris grabbed the gun which gave my son time to run home,” Harden said.

Pratt was charged with battery and armed kidnapping of a child.

According to online records, he was being held in the North Broward Bureau jail on a $76,000 bond.

“This young person was saved by a neighbor who totally disregarded his own safety to save the child,” Pembroke Park police tweeted Monday.

Neighbors that spoke to Local 10 News said they’ve known Pratt for decades and find the accusations hard to believe.

“I really think that its a misunderstanding and he didn’t really mean any harm, not saying the victim is telling any tales, I just think it was harmless,” said one neighbor. “We’ve known him for 20 years and he has never been a threat.”

Added a second neighbor: “He’s been around young children all the time, never been touchy, feely, rapey, nothing, so its like why all of a sudden now? No one knows him for that.”