A mother said her daughter is doing fine and is back to normal life after a man was caught on video attempting to kidnap the girl as she was with her nanny on a D.C. bus.
Authorities said cell phone video from 8:20 a.m. on Friday captured the suspect, 38-year-old Matthew Jones, boarding a Metro bus on the 1800 block of Columbia Road near Adams Morgan.
The man on the video yells at a 5-year-old girl and her nanny, who News4 is choosing not to identify. He claims the little girl is his daughter -- which the child’s mother has denied -- and tries to grab her a few times.
Bus riders step in, protecting her and her nanny. Passengers manage to take the man off the bus and hold him down while the driver calls police.
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Officers made the arrest, charging Jones with kidnapping and simple assault.
“I’m grateful that she’s back and it’s been surreal. My daughter is a brave girl. When I called her, she says she is fine and brave,” the mother of the 5-year-old said.
She thanked police for making an arrest, and is also grateful to the people on the bus and the driver.
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“I want the suspect to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the mother said.