WILKINSBURG, Pa. — A man is behind bars after a disturbing attack near a local playground.
Darnell Diggs is accused of grabbing an 8-year-old boy and exposing himself in Wilkinsburg.
“I was angry, I was scared. I had the feeling of a headhunter because I wanted to go after the person who did this,” the boy’s mother, Ashlyn Torres, told Channel 11
When Torres’ son told her about a man trying to sexually assault him, she took off and tried to find him.
“I just grabbed the scooter, and I grabbed my phone and called 911. I used my kid’s scooter all the way to the park to go find this man,” she said.
Earlier that day, police tell Channel 11, Diggs dragged the little boy into an alley in Wilkinsburg, began choking him, then exposed himself to the child.
The boy was playing at a park and was riding his scooter back to Homewood when Diggs began talking to him.
“He should be safe at his closest park. He should be safe coming home from the park. There should be no need for him to fear being in a place where he feels so safe and secure,” she said.
When the boy was finally able to escape from the suspect, he ran to a nearby home and told the woman who lived there that he needed help.
“He said, ‘I need help.’ He said, ‘That man was after me, and he tried to do bad things to me,’” the woman told Channel 11.
Two days later, police found Diggs and took him into custody, and a judge denied bond.
“I pray to God that they make sure that this man is kept far away from where children can play if he is ever released,” Torres said.
Diggs is in the Allegheny County Jail without bond.
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