An 11-year-old boy was admitted to the hospital with a concussion following a conflict with an adult man at a playground in the capital's "Mladost 2" neighborhood. The incident occurred on August 14, and pre-trial proceedings have been initiated.
The man was detained for 24 hours and subsequently released. He has been charged with causing minor bodily harm to a minor motivated by hooliganism.
Footage of the conflict
A recording of the incident shows an argument between the man and a group of children playing at the playground. In the video, he can be heard saying: "Let me talk to your mother, because I'm taking you, putting you in the car, and taking you to the police station."
"How do I know you won't steal my phone," the child replies.
"Give me the number, I will call her," the man says. Shortly after, the recording captures: "Two meters distance, back off." The child runs away, and the man grabs him.
"Come on, now you're going to the station to explain to your father why you're at the station," he says while holding the boy.
"You can't hit me!" the child declares, to which the man responds: "I want to talk to your father, I'm not hitting you."
Treatment at "Pirogov"
The boy's father says that between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM that evening, he was unable to reach his son. A few minutes later, a neighbor called him from the child's phone and reported that someone was hitting him.
"Around 7-8 PM, I started calling my son, but he didn't answer. A few minutes later, the neighbor called me from his phone and said someone was hitting my son. When I arrived at the playground, he was being detained by police officers," the father recounts.
According to him, the boy had bruises on his head and neck and was severely distressed. The child was taken by ambulance to "Pirogov," where he was hospitalized for treatment of a concussion and remained for three days.
After being discharged, the boy had difficulty sleeping and experienced periods of confusion, but his condition subsequently improved.
Two versions of events
According to the child's father, the dispute began after the mother of a little girl, who was also at the playground, told the older children to be careful. She was worried that they might knock over the smaller child while playing.
The children explained that the girl wanted to play with them, but was not included in the group. "The mother got angry, went and called the girl's father, and this is what happened," commented the father of the injured boy.
The accused man states that he regrets his actions but claims he had no intention of using violence against a child. He says his reaction was driven by instinct.
"First, the ill-mannered behavior of these children and the destruction of out-of-use toys we brought here. I understood from my wife that they were chasing each other; they were warned several times that there were smaller children present whom they could push, causing something unpleasant to happen," he says.
The man claims he asked the child to step outside the playground fence and call a parent.
"As a man, I think it's most appropriate to talk to a father. He behaved quite arrogantly; I grabbed his arm, I don't know how many times he hit me. Repeatedly. At some point, I hit him too. Regarding the force of his blow, I can say my glasses flew off my head," the defendant points out.