Man Charged With Assault, False Imprisonment After 'Ding Dong Ditch' Game
OVERBROOK (KDKA)- An Overbrook man faces charges, accused of grabbing a child by the neck.
Police say it all started with a game of "ding dong ditch" along Odette Street in Overbrook last week.
Two 11-year-olds and a 9-year-old ran up, rang the doorbell and knocked on the door of a home in the 2500 block of Odette Street and ran away.
One of the 11-year-olds went back to the home to apologize to the homeowner.
The 11-year-old told police that the man, Sebastien Azouma, answered the door and was extremely upset. The child said Azouma grabbed him around the neck, pulled him inside the home and told him to sit in a chair.
The children who were with the 11-year-old had run to tell his mother what happened. A few minutes later, the child's mother knocked on Azouma's door after the other two juveniles told her what happened.
She asked Azouma where her son was. He responded, "You need to come in so we can talk."
The boy's mother threatened to call 911 and at that point Azouma let the boy go.
According to the criminal complaint, after the mother got her son from Azouma's house, she took a picture of his neck, which was red from the alleged incident.
When police went to the house, they asked for Azouma's side of the story. He told them, "I'm tired of kids in the neighborhood coming onto my property and knocking on my door."
He claimed he only grabbed the boy around the collar of his coat, not by the neck.
For Latese Dixon, who just moved to the neighborhood, the incident is disturbing.
"You don't touch anybody's kids if they're not physically touching you. There were better ways to solve that matter," Dixson said.
The 11-year-old's mother refused medical treatment for her son, but said that both she and the child's father want to pursue criminal charges against Azouma.
Azouma was charged with simple assault and false imprisonment.
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