OCEAN BEACH, Calif. — A man is behind bars after being caught on camera taking off with an eight-year-old boy who was playing tag outside with another child.
“He just grabbed him, hugged him, and put him down, and then when he put him down, he started yelling himself ‘he was his son,’” said parent Adrián Villanueva.
Villanueva’s boy Emmanuel was playing outside last Friday night in front of his family’s newly opened deli on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach when the stranger snatched him.
“He grabbed him very hard, very tight so my son tried to fight back but no luck.”
Surveillance footage captured the entire incident and shows the man snatching the boy before taking off from the deli.
Villanueva runs after the man, Christopher Higginbotham, and bystanders intervene chasing him and holding him on the ground until police arrive.
Villanueva said he had his eye on the man because he was walking back and forth in front of the liquor store and deli acting strange. At one point, he was jumping in the air yelling.
“Obviously he wasn’t 100%. He was high on something,” Villanueva said.
Jail records show Higginbotham was booked on a single battery charge.
In court Friday, Higginbotham appeared virtually from jail, wearing shackles. His public defender entered not guilty pleas to all of the allegations.
The prosecutor told the court Higginbotham has a violent past that includes hitting a transient with a metal pole last year which resulted in the transient’s jaw breaking.
Court heard Higginbotham has served time in prison for felony assaults. In one 2016 incident, he punched a good Samaritan in the face and pulled out a sword.
In 2018, Higginbotham’s photo was featured on a Crime Stoppers flyer. At the time, he was wanted by the San Diego Fugitive Task Force for an outstanding felony warrant for assault with a deadly weapon.
The judge denied Higginbotham’s request for bail saying no conditions will protect the public.
Villanueva said many in Ocean Beach have come forward to support him and his family. One man has even offered to teach them jiujitsu self-defense classes.
“We have a lot of support from the Ocean Beach community.”
He’s warning other parents to keep a close eye on their children.
"I’m looking everywhere now so you know when you’re walking on the streets now it’s not safe anymore.”
