“Violence is never the answer”. That’s a mantra most parents have drummed into their children repeatedly during their formative years, and live by themselves as an example. But if a situation arises where your child is in need of protection, often it’s not as black and white as that.
Just ask the dad who witnessed a stranger attempting to take outrageous pictures of his daughter. Fortunately, he had the wherewithal to act immediately.
It was at the end of July, in 2018, that Ismael Duarte found himself in a supermarket in Cypress, California along with his wife and 15-year-old daughter.
Whilst perusing the shelves his attention was captured by a stranger approaching his daughter. Something about the man seemed off, and he had a cell phone clutched in his hand.
“What caught my attention when he approached my daughter was how he held the camera,” Ismael Duarte said to ABC News.
Duarte then witnessed the man trying to point the cell phone up her skirt. He acted immediately, blocking the man from getting near his daughter.
Only a few minutes later, however, he caught sight of the man again.
“We were coming over to the register and here he comes again, pops out following another girl with the dress,” Duarte said.
The man apparently bent down on one knee, and was trying to record up another woman’s skirt.
Only this time Duarte acted quickly, kicking the man’s phone away and tackling him to the ground.
“My daughter, and the girl that actually was getting their picture taken without her being known — that’s what got me,” Duarte told KTLA, as per Fox.
The man tried to run from the scene, but Duarte and his wife chased him. They got pictures of the man’s car and its registration plate – information they then handed to the police.
It was all the authorities needed. Thanks to Duarte’s intervention, they were able to locate and arrest the man responsible.
It became apparent later on, through watching the supermarket surveillance cameras, that the suspect was a repeat offender, having harassed other women on the same day.
Watch the news report on the subject in the video below:
Although violence should never be the answer, we believe this dad acted the right way when he realized something was wrong. What do you think? How would you react in a similar situation?
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