NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – A very good Samaritan is talking out on the tough takedown of an alleged attacker at a park in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Talking with 7News on Thursday, Mike Santiegue mentioned he noticed 18-year-old Antwan Johnson and with no hesitation ran after him to make a citizen’s arrest.
“I see a commotion on my strategy to the lavatory, and I hear a girl scream out, ‘Cease this man. He simply raped this lady.’ We lock eyes, I chase him throughout twenty second Avenue,” mentioned Santiegue.
In mere seconds, Santiegue was joined by different members of the group in taking down Johnson, who’s accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old lady within the rest room stall at Gwen Cherry Park on Tuesday.
“One other man on an electrical scooter, he comes up. He requested me which approach he’s going to go. We see the man and lure [him] within the yard till the police got here,” mentioned Santiegue.
Video circulating on social media reveals the livid mob of oldsters and group members participating within the takedown of Johnson, as deputies be part of the gang and take him into custody.
Based on the arrest report, following the crime, Johnson headed east however didn’t get far, as “residents on the park chased after the defendant and detained him till police arrived.”
And that’s precisely what Santiegue mentioned occurred.
“Simply justice, and no matter it’s that must be carried out to maintain the group secure,” he mentioned.
Quickly after, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Workplace deputies took Johnson into custody.
7News discovered the heinous crime occurred in the course of the younger lady’s rest room break at summer time camp.
Based on investigators, Johnson informed her to enter the women’ rest room to get bathroom paper as a result of there was no bathroom paper within the males’s restroom.
That’s when, in keeping with the arrest report, Johnson struck. He “adopted her into the lavatory, grabbed her, and moved her from the sink space to the final stall within the rest room. The defendant coated the sufferer’s mouth (inflicting a lower on the sufferer’s lip which made her bleed), choked her.”
Throughout the ordeal, a witness entered the restroom, prompting Johnson to flee as the lady yelled for assist.
Santiegue mentioned the entire group performed an integral position in getting Johnson behind bars.
“Everybody performed an enormous position, and that’s what we’re right here for,” he mentioned.
As of late Thursday evening, Johnson stays behind bars with out bond. He faces a number of prices, together with one rely of sexual battery on a minor by an grownup, one rely of kidnapping and one rely of false imprisonment of a kid below age 13.
Santiegue informed 7News he’s simply grateful they had been capable of catch the accused and convey some reduction to the group and the sufferer’s household.
“Everybody would have been in a frenzy or in a hysteria, like coming again to the park would have been not potential for some younger women or mothers who had been most likely in worry of coming again to the park as a result of this man went uncaught,” he mentioned.
Santiegue added his actions weren’t heroic, they had been simply the fitting factor to do.
“Defend the weak, that’s the most important message,” he mentioned.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien wrote in a social media submit on Thursday that her coronary heart is shattered by the mindless violence and mentioned she is reviewing park security and protocols.
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