A Boston man is being held without bail after police say he attempted to kidnap a 3-year-old boy and threatened his mother on an MBTA Green Line trolley on Tuesday.
The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office has charged Liban Dualle, 33, with attempted kidnapping, threat to commit a felony, disruptive behavior on a public conveyance, and two charges of assault and battery. He was arraigned on Wednesday and ordered jailed without bail until a dangerousness hearing on May 26.
The allegations come from an incident on Tuesday at around 1 p.m., when MBTA Transit Police were summoned to the Park Street T station’s westbound platform for a report of an irate passenger, later identified as Dualle.
A female rider told police she was on an empty E Line trolley at North Station with her 3-year-old son when Dualle boarded behind her and sat one seat away. The woman claimed Dualle tried to flirt with her, but she ignored him. When he became more aggressive, she claimed she tried to look away.
Dualle then requested the woman’s phone number and said things like, “We should get out of here.” Another woman on the train then interfered, attempting to divert the woman with talk.
Between the Haymarket and Government Center stations, Dualle grew interested in the victim’s son and attempted to tickle him by touching his feet with his fingers. The boy’s mother was distraught and requested Dualle leave her son alone. Dualle then threatened the woman with a “finger gun” and aimed at her, saying, “I’ll (expletive) kill you; do you understand me?” “I will shoot you.”
Dualle then stated, “Look, he wants to come with me.” Look at how he is looking at me. “He wants me.” He then attempted to take the youngster from the stroller by grabbing the boy’s leg and tugging him up.
At this time, another rider and an MBTA staff member intervened, pulling Dualle away. The T employee forced him off the trolley when they got to Park Street Station.
Officers scoured the area and discovered a man matching the suspect’s description near the intersection of Chauncy and Summer streets. The victim positively identified Dualle as the man from the train.
“No user of public transportation should have to go through this, especially a parent with a young child,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the passenger and the MBTA employee who helped this mother and child, and I’m thankful police were able to identify and locate this defendant in fairly quick order.”
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