Man Hits 9-Year-Old in Attempted Robbery in Northeast D.C.

Child attacked while walking her dog

A man hit a 9-year-old girl as he tried to rob her while she walked her dog in northeast D.C. Wednesday afternoon, the victim’s mother told News4.

The girl has become apprehensive about simply going outside to play with her little dog Diamond.

"She doesn't want to go out by herself,” her mother said. “When we walk the dog, we all go together."

The girl was walking Diamond like she did every day when a man called for her to go to him.

"He was calling her to come over,” her mother said. “She was like, ‘No. I don’t know you, so I’m not coming close.’ He just came and grabbed her on the arm and he pushed her down."

The man took off her boots to see if she had money hidden, police said. He patted her down to see if she had money in her pockets.

“She didn’t so he just started hitting her on her back," the victim’s mother said.

A passerby yelled at the man, and the girl ran home.

"She came upstairs crying,” her mother said. “She told me a man had hit her outside."

Her mother called the police, and with the victim's help, officers spotted the suspect, who was still in the neighborhood, and arrested him.

The girl was taken to a local hospital with bruises, and now the family is looking for a new place to live.

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