A Maine State Museum employee successfully stopped an abduction she witnessed taking place, ABC News reported on Saturday.
Sharon Wise, 65, was working behind the desk at the museum when she saw a man run up to a 2-year-old girl and grab her by the wrist on Tuesday in Augusta.
The young girl's grandmother was hanging up their coats and the man used the opportunity to make his move, Wise said.
"He grabbed a hold of the little girl and grabbed a hold of her wrist and he starts pulling her," Wise told WMTW-TV. "At that point, instinctively I bent over and hovered over the child. I kept saying in a very low voice, leave her alone."
Stepping between the two, the woman may have prevented an abduction.
"I looked him right in the eye and I was really close to him and I said, 'Let go of her now,' and he waited for a minute, looked me right in the eye and he dropped her hand and left," Wise said.
A man named James Cavallaro, 58, was arrested in the parking lot and charged with assault shortly after. Wise said museum employees are trained to deal with these sort of situations, and that she used a firm, stern voice with the man.
