A 31-year-old man faces multiple charges, including first-degree attempted kidnapping, after police say he tried to pull a 7-year-old girl away from her family at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Saturday evening.
Portland Police Bureau officials stated that the incident began around 6:51 p.m. on July 11, when dispatchers received reports of a naked man running near the 1000 block of Southwest Naito Parkway. Four minutes later, a second caller reported that the same man had attempted to punch them in the head.
Because local Central Precinct officers were tied up with higher-priority calls—including a disturbance involving a firearm—no units were immediately available to respond to the initial calls.
At 7:03 p.m., a third emergency call reported that the suspect had grabbed a young girl near the Salmon Street Springs and was attempting to pull her away from her mother. Dispatchers rerouted officers from the North Precinct to handle the emergency.
According to the police investigation, the suspect, identified as Daniel C. Vasey, grabbed the 7-year-old girl’s arm. The girl’s mother grabbed her other arm to pull her back, resulting in a struggle that lifted the child entirely off the ground. The girl’s mother, father, and several bystanders intervened by striking the suspect until he let go of the child. One bystander sprayed the suspect with an irritant to keep him away from the crowd.
When officers arrived at the park, they located Vasey wading in the Willamette River and placed him under arrest.
The victim and her family told responding officers that they were visiting Portland from out of state. Paramedics treated the 7-year-old girl at the scene for minor scratches. She did not require transportation to a hospital.
Vasey was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. In addition to First-Degree Attempted Kidnapping, he faces charges of Second-Degree Attempted Kidnapping, First-Degree Custodial Interference, Third-Degree Assault, and Harassment.
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