An American man who was filmed performing the Heimlich maneuver on his adopted son was mistaken for abusing the child by an angry mob in Bogotá, Colombia.
Incident on a Balcony
A video taken by a woman in northern Bogotá on Saturday appeared to show the Texan holding a child on his balcony. In the viral clip, the woman screamed, 'He's abusing the child, let him go!' as several others yelled for the police. The man looked out at the shouting people and then ushered the child inside.
He was quickly surrounded by an angry mob trying to break into the apartment complex. Protests formed outside the tower's lobby, preventing him from fleeing. Police arrived and arrested him on suspicion of child abuse, escorting him through the baying crowds that had been whipped up by concerns over child sex tourism in the country.
Misunderstanding Revealed
The man, 36, was initially accused of abusing a 7-year-old boy. However, it was later revealed that the Texan had actually been trying to stop his adopted son from choking to death on food.
President Gustavo Petro stated: 'I must notify Colombian society because my commitment is to the truth, that the American citizen of Texan origin, captured in an apartment in northern Bogotá, apparently did not violate any of his adopted children in Colombia. He took him out to the balcony due to a clog from eating the food poorly. The images deceived the Colombians who went en masse to defend the child. Now we have indeed made victims of boys and girls. If these indications of the facts are confirmed, justice must grant him all his rights as a human being.'
Children Taken into Care
Three children were found by authorities when they entered the suspect's apartment and were taken to a medical center for evaluation, Mayor Carlos Galan said in a post on X. Colombia's state agency for child protection confirmed that the three children are now in its care.
The President said the children had been made victims following the actions of the crowd. He also warned that AI had riled up crowds and that Colombia would be vulnerable to manipulation from foreign powers, especially during elections. Invoking Simon Bolivar, he added: 'A good lesson in reality for those of us who can easily be collectively deceived by images that do not match reality, and that is precisely what the entire Colombian society lives through, bombarded by companies with artificial intelligence. Here they transformed, as it seems to be the same case of the supposedly paedophile American, reality into virtuality.'
Official Report Clears Man
An official report from the prosecutor's office determined 'there had been no sexual abuse and no physical violence,' and 'no evidence indicating criminal conduct,' according to the Colombian news outlet Noticias Caracol.
