Police: Mom says she might have misjudged man who touched child

BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. — Police in West Virginia say a woman now says she might have misinterpreted an incident when she reported that a man was trying to abduct her 5-year-old daughter at a mall.

News outlets report the woman told police Monday that she stopped the man by pulling out a gun.

Police said the prosecutor was working Tuesday to either release 54-year-old Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan of Alexandria, Egypt, or amend the charges.

Barboursville Police say the mother of a 5-year-old girl may have misjudged the actions on an Egyptian man at the Huntington Mall and overreacted, which led to him being charged with attempted abduction. https://t.co/qEtq9myNFH

— WOWK 13 News (@WOWK13News) April 2, 2019

The criminal complaint said a woman was shopping at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville when a man grabbed her child by the hair. Police said Tuesday that inconsistencies were discovered, and the mother eventually said she might have misjudged the man’s actions and overreacted to his touching the child’s head.

The woman chalked it up as a “cultural misunderstanding.”

#BREAKING: Barboursville Police say mother who said her child was almost kidnapped from the Huntington Mall Monday night might have been a “cultural misunderstanding” and misinterpreted an action by the man. @wchs8fox11

— Raven Tiara Brown (@RavenBrownTV) April 2, 2019

Jail records don’t indicate whether Zayan has an attorney.