Secpro
11-12-2009, 04:46 PM
Off-duty officers save child from alleged molester
By Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — As Sara Murphy finished an impromptu hike down Stone Mountain, Ruth Stringer was set to begin a five-mile run.
They were among the few people at Stone Mountain on a dreary Sunday afternoon, Sept. 20. There was someone else, too --- a man lurking near the restrooms.
"Something was off about him," said Murphy, a GBI agent based in Athens. "He was acting very strangely."
Stringer, a lieutenant with the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, also noticed the man.
"He was just sitting there on the bench," she said. "I probably wouldn't have paid him any mind had there been more people around."
As Stringer finished stretching, Murphy continued tracking the man, later identified as Patrick Leithead, 36. "He was checking out everyone who walked by," she said.
Stringer then stepped into the restroom, unaware that the man had already gone inside. She spotted male feet sticking out from under one of the stalls, "as if he was kneeling."
"I thought maybe it was a couple making out, or a a father helping a child," Stringer said.
Then she heard muffled cries.
"I knew I could handle myself," said the ex-Marine, who was not armed, "but at the same time I didn't know what would be coming out at me."
In her most commanding voice, Stringer ordered the man to release the child. She repeated the command. Again. Finally, a crying 13-year-old girl emerged.
"There's a man inside there," she told Stringer.
The lieutenant escorted the girl outside and, from the door, yelled for someone to call 911.
Murphy was already heading her way, looking for the man.
"I was glad to see Sara coming," Stringer said.
By then the suspect had emerged from the bathroom, and Murphy, armed with the Glock she had retrieved from her vehicle, held him until park police arrived. Leithead, arrested and charged with aggravated child molestation, remains jailed without bond in DeKalb County.
Murphy said she wouldn't have been at Stone Mountain that day had I-85 not been clogged by traffic.
"We figured why not hike?" she said. "I really feel like God put us there."
Copyright 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — As Sara Murphy finished an impromptu hike down Stone Mountain, Ruth Stringer was set to begin a five-mile run.
They were among the few people at Stone Mountain on a dreary Sunday afternoon, Sept. 20. There was someone else, too --- a man lurking near the restrooms.
"Something was off about him," said Murphy, a GBI agent based in Athens. "He was acting very strangely."
Stringer, a lieutenant with the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, also noticed the man.
"He was just sitting there on the bench," she said. "I probably wouldn't have paid him any mind had there been more people around."
As Stringer finished stretching, Murphy continued tracking the man, later identified as Patrick Leithead, 36. "He was checking out everyone who walked by," she said.
Stringer then stepped into the restroom, unaware that the man had already gone inside. She spotted male feet sticking out from under one of the stalls, "as if he was kneeling."
"I thought maybe it was a couple making out, or a a father helping a child," Stringer said.
Then she heard muffled cries.
"I knew I could handle myself," said the ex-Marine, who was not armed, "but at the same time I didn't know what would be coming out at me."
In her most commanding voice, Stringer ordered the man to release the child. She repeated the command. Again. Finally, a crying 13-year-old girl emerged.
"There's a man inside there," she told Stringer.
The lieutenant escorted the girl outside and, from the door, yelled for someone to call 911.
Murphy was already heading her way, looking for the man.
"I was glad to see Sara coming," Stringer said.
By then the suspect had emerged from the bathroom, and Murphy, armed with the Glock she had retrieved from her vehicle, held him until park police arrived. Leithead, arrested and charged with aggravated child molestation, remains jailed without bond in DeKalb County.
Murphy said she wouldn't have been at Stone Mountain that day had I-85 not been clogged by traffic.
"We figured why not hike?" she said. "I really feel like God put us there."
Copyright 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution