Broward neighbor helps 13-year-old boy escape from armed kidnapper, police say
.jpg "Archive.")
A neighbor helped a 13-year-old boy escape after an armed man forced the teen into his Pembroke Park apartment over the weekend, police say.
George Rudolph Pratt, 65, faces charges of battery and armed kidnapping. He was in Broward County jail as of Monday afternoon, records show.
According to a police report, the boy was outside Saturday afternoon when the 170-pound man who was drinking beer grabbed him by the arm and tried to bring him into his apartment.
The teenager told police he tried to break Pratt’s grip but that he was being held tightly. That’s when Christopher Williams, another neighbor, asked Pratt for a beer in an effort to distract him, the report said.
Police say Pratt let the boy go and invited Williams inside his apartment to grab a beer. But when Williams noticed that there was no beer in Pratt’s refrigerator, he saw the man using his right hand to reach for a black handgun on top of a cabinet.
Williams then grabbed Pratt’s hand, allowing the boy to run away, according to investigators, and he then pushed the gun away from Pratt and left the apartment as well.
The victim identified Pratt in a photo lineup before he was arrested and his gun located.
According to investigators, Pratt told police none of this happened.
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 3:27 PM.
