A 46-year-old Pennsylvania man is f*acing c*riminal ch*arges after cellphone video shows him p*inning a 13-year-old child to the g*round, refusing to let him leave a Greenfield park.
Thomas D’Andrea was seen sitting atop the juvenile, whom he’d a*ccused of v*andalizing an abandoned construction truck parked near the playground, CBS Pittsburgh reported, citing c*ourt documents.
When his multiple calls to p*olice proved ineffective, the man took it upon himself to p*in the boy down until o*fficers arrived.
“How could you?!” asked Shalaya Hasbrouck, the boy’s mother. “Weren’t you raised better? What if your mother saw this video, how would she feel to see her son a*ttacking a child? I think she would be disgusted.”
Thomas D’Andrea, 46, is ch*arged with simple a*ss*ault and c*riminal m*ischief in the June 25 i*ncident. (WPXI / video screenshot)
In video from the i*ncident, the boy’s sister is heard screaming for D’Andrea to get off her brother and let him go. She tells the stranger her brother has a*sthma and is b*leeding from his mouth.
According to c*ourt documents, D’Andrea told authorities he spotted the child snooping near the abandoned truck and assumed he was up to no good. The teen, who remains unnamed, denied the stranger’s v*andalism claims and told p*olice he simply walked over to the truck to check it out and sit inside of it.
That’s when D’Andrea c*onfronted the youth, giving him a he*ad start to run while he dialed for po*lice. The teen didn’t budge, however. He admitted to hitting the man in self-defense after dodging one of D’Andrea’s p*unches.
O*fficers arrived to find the man p*inning the boy against a piece of playground equipment and ordered him to turn the child loose.
After a review of the i*ncident, p*olice determined D’Andrea was indeed the a*ggressor and ch*arged him with simple a*ss*ault. D’Andrea, who the Pittsburgh Public Safety department identified as a city firef*ighter, is also ch*arged with c*riminal mischief in the June 25 i*ncident, station WTAE reported.
Officials said he has since been placed on administrative leave pending an i*nvestigation.
Watch more in the video HERE.