Man Takes Action When He Hears Girls Were Nearly Abducted

(WHBC) – WHBC News spoke with the parent who helped police nab a man accused of trying to abduct girls at a Canton park.

David Ratchford says he was helping coach his son’s baseball team at Weis Park on Harvard Avenue NW on Wednesday when some parents said a man, who was then heading for the parking lot, had tried to abduct their kids, four in total.

“I ran up to his car and smacked on it a few times and tried get him to stop, and I tried the door handle but he was trying to get out of there as fast as he could. If I had been in the way he would’ve run me over.”

Ratchford says he grabbed his cell phone and took some quick pictures of the man’s car and license plate, before the man sped out of the parking lot.

Thanks to Ratchford’s quick actions police were able to use the picture of the license plate to quickly catch up with the suspect, 50-year-old Jay Whitney Miller, and place him under arrest.

Ratchford, who has a 10-year-old son, says it’s troubling that people like this are out there.

“It’s scary, but it’s nice to know, at least in this situation, that this guy is in jail and right now people don’t have to worry about him.”

Court records state that Miller told the girls that he was going to hit them in the head with a hammer, wrap their mouths with duct tape and drag them to his car.

He’s facing four felony counts of attempted abduction.

His arraignment hearing is set for Friday morning.