Police: Calif. man tries to snatch girl, is attacked with chairs
HESPERIA, Calif. -- A man was arrested in the High Desert town Tuesday after allegedly trying to snatch a toddler from her grandmother's arms and repeatedly kicking a dog.
According to the Riverside Press Enterprise, sheriff's deputies were summoned by reports of a combative man accosting visitors in Civic Plaza.
The reported incident began when the man yelled at a skateboarder and his dog before attacking them. The victim defended himself using his skateboard.
The man then directed his attention towards three women and a small child, who ran for cover into nearby City Hall to get away, but the man followed them.
In cell phone video taken by one of the women, the bloodied man is seen standing in the doorway. The woman holding the camera backs down the hall; the man chases her.
According to investigators, he then hit the grandmother and tried to grab the little girl. Cornered and alone, one woman grabbed the two-year-old and ran.
By then, 24-year-old Jessica Corrales had had enough.
"I just saw my mom with blood on her hand and my niece, so I said, 'Okay, somebody needs to do something,'" Corrales told CBS News' Crystal Cruz. "So I saw some folding chairs. I picked up the chair and I just started beating him with it."
Help arrived, and 30-year-old Reginald Peralta, from Los Angeles, was taken down by city employees.
Peralta was arrested and booked on investigation of animal cruelty, making criminal threats, and attempted kidnapping. He was held on $125,000 bail.
"He looked like a zombie," said Corrales. "Every time I watch it, I just started crying because it just looks so unreal."