KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri man is in custody and faces multiple charges after he allegedly assaulted a 2-year-old girl at a playground Friday.
William L. Bates Jr., 24, of Kansas City, Mo., is charged with first-degree attempted sodomy and attempted statutory sodomy with a person younger than than 12 years old.
A 2-year-old girl was playing on a swing at a playground when Bates, as the child’s mother told police, began “eyeballing” her children.
The mother said Bates walked up behind the girl and snatched her off the swing before grabbing the toddler by the hips and pulling down her diaper.
The mother said she saw Bates lift his shirt, take his pants down and begin thrusting against her daughter.
Police said the girl’s mother ran at Bates and knocked him to the ground, pummeling him with her fists while he was down.
Bates eventually managed to get away and run from the park, but the child’s mother ran to a nearby homeless shelter and called police.
Officers arrested Bates near the playground, and found he was carrying marijuana and an unidentified white vial of fluid with a chemical odor, according to the arrest report.
The mother later identified Bates from a police photo as the attacker.
At the Jackson County Detention Center, Bates told police he had gotten a cigarette from someone near the park and doesn’t remember anything of the incident until he awoke inside a fenced-in area and was taken into custody by police.