Pittsburgh firefighter, Thomas D’Andrea, was caught on video restraining a 13-year-old boy he thought was vandalizing a truck.
What We Know:
- Police responded to a call at a playground near Saline Street in Greenfield, a neighborhood within Pittsburgh, PA, where they found a teenage boy pinned down by a 46-year-old man, according to CBS 2. “I’m 13, he’s on top of me,” the boy cries in a cell phone video taken by his 16-year-old sister. “He’s a grown man.”
- The incident happened when D’Andrea saw the teenager viewing a construction truck and assumed he was vandalizing it. The boy allegedly sat inside the truck, which did not belong to D’Andrea. The 46-year-old man claimed he called the cops several times before deciding to pin the juvenile down on a playground set until police arrived.
- The boy admitted he took a swing at D’Andrea, hitting him in self-defense after he dodged a punch thrown by D’Andrea. Police determined D’Andrea was the aggressor and ordered him not to return to the park and charged him with two misdemeanors, simple assault and criminal mischief, following his attack on the child.
- David McGovern, the father of the 13-year-old boy, claims that two charges are not enough for D’Andrea and believes the attack was racially motivated. “And I’m wondering why there haven’t been more than two charges filed against the man,” McGovern said.
D’Andrea has a hearing on the charges set for Aug. 19.
