Wrong guy: Man suspected of being online predator run down by car

DETROIT, Mich. (WJBK) - FOX 2 told you of an important story about the dangers of kids being lured by predators through the app "Kik."

Now we're sharing another valuable lesson connected to that story - do not try to take the law into your own hands.

Family and friends of the young girl targeted on the Kik messenger app found who they thought was the culprit and depending on who you talk to, took things too far.

"They hit him with the car," said Tina Pace, the mother of the man who was attacked. "They rolled him over and everybody is jumping out of cars and they were walking him like they were police, back towards the school."

Tina Pace says it was vigilante justice gone wrong. Her 19-year-old son was targeted, manhandled and hit by a car because a group of people believed he was preying on an 11-year-old girl through the Kik messenger app.

"He was called the worst name you can call a person," Pace said. "To be called a pedophile, for a person who loves children, that's the worst thing you can call a person."

It happened Monday morning after her son, who declined an on-camera interview, dropped off his 13-year-old brother at Regent Park Academy, the same school the 11-year-old girl attends.

A man trailed him as he walked towards Tina and his 5-year-old brother - then several cars followed.

"A little silver car hits him and he rolls over the hood," Pace said. "She deliberately tried to hit him."

Tina claims the 11 year old girl's mother was behind the wheel.

FOX 2 spoke with her Tuesday night. She was furious a man pressured her daughter into sending him nude pictures and then threatened to post them online if the 11-year-old but did not meet him at this church near her school.

"He said 'Monday morning sit in front of the church and I'm going to snatch you up and put you on your knees' were his exact
words," she said in an interview Tuesday.

When the girl's mother and her friends saw Tina's son near the church, they thought he was the creep on Kik messenger.

Detroit police later said he had nothing to do with it.

"I understand what they're going through my heart goes out to the child and to the family, but at the same time there was a
way you could've did it. We're not vigilantes.

"You could have killed him. You could have hurt my 5-year-old son we had with us."

The mother of the girl says she did not hit the young man with her car, but the Pace family plans to file charges.