Toronto Star

KIDNAPPING FOILED

Parkdale woman hailed as hero for rescuing 10-year-old boy,

- CURTIS RUSH POLICE REPORTER

A 36-year-old Parkdale woman doesn’t think she is a hero, but police are crediting her with saving a 10-year-old boy from an attempted abduction on Tuesday at around 5 p.m.

The boy, who had been dropped off by a bus after school, had been walking westbound on King St. W., near Cowan Ave., to go home.

At the same time, Robin North was leaving her apartment to go to work when she heard a boy’s screams on the south side of King St.

She whirled around and saw a stocky man wearing a distinctiv­e purple hunter’s hat with bedraggled clothes. He was grabbing the boy by the hood of his coat and trying to drag him down the sidewalk.

“The little guy was pulling back and yelling,” North said. “I heard him cry, ‘No, no, no.’ ”

The boy’s library book went flying. North at first thought the man might be a bully family member, but then “it didn’t seem right. I just yelled, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ she said. “It was very violent.” The man reportedly then shoved the boy to the ground and walked across the street. As North crossed, their eyes met and she got a good look at him, she said. The man then leaned up against the wall of a pizza joint and just watched them. North, who works as a writer and part-time at an art studio, asked the boy if he knew the man, and he said no. She asked if he had said anything to him and the boy said no. “He sounded frightened,” North said. As soon as she pulled her phone out to call police, the man ducked inside the pizza place, North said. As she talked to police, the man came out and crossed toward them diagonally, but then he saw an eastbound streetcar coming and climbed aboard. North relayed the number of the streetcar to police, who made an arrest a few blocks away, all within minutes. Police don’t know why the boy was targeted and they say this was not related to a domestic dispute. The boy suffered some minor scrapes to his hands and knees. The boy’s family is in shock. “Any parent would be if this happened to their child,” Det. Const. Boyd Heslop said. “Who knows where this would have ended up if this woman hadn’t intervened,” he added. Police hope to use video from the streetcar in the investigat­ion. “The family doesn’t know who this person is,” Boyd said. North stayed with the boy, sitting with him until police and his grandmothe­r came. She said the boy was quite shaken and suffered scrapes to his hands and knees. However, he put on a brave face when his grandmothe­r showed up, North said.

“His grandmothe­r rubbed his face and said, ‘Oh, you’ve been crying.’ And he said, ‘I haven’t been crying.’ He was being really tough.”

North said the boy is a “very sweet kid who did everything right. “He’s very brave. He did everything that you are supposed to do. He didn’t go with him. He yelled, he screamed. He fought him.”

North said she didn’t do much to merit any citations of bravery.

“I don’t really feel I did all the much,” North said. “I just yelled and ran across the street. It was the boy who was very brave. I’m just glad I happened to be coming out of the house just at that time.”

Rufus Folkes, 33, who lives in the north end of Toronto, is charged with assault, attempted abduction of a person under 14, and failing to comply with probation on unrelated charges. Folkes appeared in court on Wednesday.

 ?? CURTIS RUSH/TORONTO STAR ?? “It didn’t seem right. I just yelled, ‘Hey, what’s going on?,’ ” recalls Good Samaritan Robin North. “It was very violent.”
CURTIS RUSH/TORONTO STAR “It didn’t seem right. I just yelled, ‘Hey, what’s going on?,’ ” recalls Good Samaritan Robin North. “It was very violent.”
 ?? CURTIS RUSH/TORONTO STAR ?? Robin North plays down her role but police said, “Who knows where this would have ended up” without her.
CURTIS RUSH/TORONTO STAR Robin North plays down her role but police said, “Who knows where this would have ended up” without her.

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