By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | February 9, 2008
The attempted abduction of a 10-year-old boy on his way home from school had residents on edge yesterday afternoon in Belmont.
The boy tearfully told his parents that a stranger in a dark coat grabbed his hand as he left the Mary Lee Burbank Elementary School Thursday, dragging him several blocks before letting him go. Police released the 911 recording of a call placed by the boy and his father to the police dispatcher shortly afterward.
“This man grabbed me by the hand and started taking me,” the boy said, adding, “I tried to get him to let go. . . . I couldn’t get him to let go.”
Police said the man dragged the boy for nearly a half-mile, even as the boy yelled, “This is not my parent,” and kicked the man. When they reached Chenery Middle School on Washington Street, the man let go and fled down Oakley Road, police said.
The boy described the man as a white male between the ages of 35 and 45, wearing a knee-length black coat and blue jeans.
Police said they searched the area and broadcast a description of the suspect to surrounding cities and towns. School officials put out an automated telephone system alert warning parents. Police assigned extra patrols to both schools yesterday afternoon.
The incident is highly unusual in Belmont, an affluent Boston suburb and home to former governor Mitt Romney, said Lieutenant Richard Santangelo of the Belmont police. Santangelo said police were surprised at the distance the man dragged the boy in broad daylight without anyone noticing.
“That’s a long way to go,” he said.
“Everybody’s a little more aware right now,” Santangelo said. “People aren’t scared, but they’re a little more vigilant.”
Katherine Poulsen, who was taking her three children to the Belmont Public Library yesterday afternoon, said the news is cause for alarm. She got the automated message, as did her husband, who was away on business but called the family.
Poulsen said she impulsively went to the front window to look out to the street to see whether anything was unusual.
“It really makes you nervous,” she said. “You keep your children closer to you.”
Wendy Magliozzi of Arlington, who was picking up videos at the library with her sixth-grade daughter, said she would speak with her children about what happened.
“I was surprised,” she said. “Everybody seems so much more vigilant. How could a predator think he could be smarter?”
Elena Vashuk, whose daughter attends Burbank Elementary, said she was very scared, and that her biggest concern was that no one heard or saw the boy’s screams for help. It made her worry about what would happen if her two daughters were ever in trouble.
“If you yell for help,” she said, “I’m not sure anyone would hear you.”
