Man Arrested After Allegedly Attempting To Kidnap Child In Downtown Pittsburgh

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Police say they have arrested a man who allegedly tried to kidnap a woman's son in Downtown Pittsburgh on Friday morning.

The incident happened just before 9 a.m. on Penn Avenue between Tito Way and 9th Street.

According to police, a woman told officers she and her 4-year-old son were walking along Penn Avenue when a man approached them and said the boy was his son.

The man allegedly tried to grab the boy, and when the woman tried to pull her son away, the man allegedly grabbed the woman, too.

The woman told police the two then began to struggle and at one point, the 4-year-old boy was pulled off his feet. The woman screamed for help, and a man who was standing at a nearby bus stop ran over and managed to get the suspect away from the victims.

The suspect then ran away. The woman and child were not injured.

Police say they obtained video of the incident that supported the victim's story. The video also helped them identify the suspect as 33-year-old Noah Daniel Walker, of Stanton Heights.

Officers found Walker in the 1800 block of Centre Avenue just before 11 a.m.

Walker was transported to the Allegheny County Jail and is facing multiple charges, including simple assault, resisting arrest and recklessly endangering another person.

Back in July, Walker was charged for allegedly trying to pull a woman out of her car by her hair while he was panhandling near the city's Polish Hill neighborhood.

At the time, police said the victim and other witnesses told them Walker was "a regular panhandler" in the area.