Teen escapes sexual predator, Detroit police arrest suspect

A 38-year-old man is in police custody after allegedly trying to sexually assault a 15-year-old boy.

It happened Wednesday morning near Pickford and Burgess on Detroit's west side as the boy walked to school.

"He was just crying, screaming in the phone saying that this man was chasing him and he was trying to snatch him," said Troya Thomas, the victim's mom.

The boy's mother says she rushed to the scene from work after receiving his frantic phone call and recorded the aftermath of the traumatic experience. 

"Police was there when I made it there," she said. "There were already four cop cars on the scene. I don't understand it. Like the man didn't even care - he laughed as they were putting him in the police car."

Troya says her son called 911 and a dispatcher told him to run and hide from the man until police arrived. DPD recovered a gun in the man's car.

Now that he's in custody and her son is safe, Troya's biggest concern is making sure this experience doesn't sour her son on school.

"It's a lot of black kids, a lot of kids period in youth today that don't even want to go to school," she said. "My baby is a good kid. he's an honor roll student and I don't want him to get backtracked or be afraid to leave the house because you know we got crazy people out here."

Troya wants to remind parents and responsible adults to keep an eye on kids as they walk to school and be willing to help if someone is trying to harm them - something she says did not happen in this case.

As for the suspect, he could be arraigned as early as Thursday but police say Friday is more likely.