INDIANAPOLIS — Two men are facing criminal charges after IMPD said one of them grabbed a child's arm and the other exposed himself in front of children.
A mother named Shantay said before June 8, she never worried about her kids playing in the field behind their apartment. She can see everything perfectly from her window.
"It was a normal day. The kids are out playing as they always have amongst each other," Shantay said.
But she said that changed after two men interrupted their playtime and approached her 8-year-old daughter in the 6900 block of Stratton Square, near West 71st Street and Michigan Road on the north side of Indianapolis.
"She says he started to walk away, and he was asking her, 'Does she like him?' And that was weird to her. She says as she was walking away, he said, 'Wait, don't you like me?'" Shantay said.
"He grabbed her by the arm and pulled on her, and as he was trying to get a better grip on her, she pulled away," Shantay said.
According to court documents, the suspect left a bright red mark on the child's wrist.
"From the looks of it, he would have taken her into the back way," Shantay said.
Court documents say that while this was happening, a second man came outside and exposed his genitals to the group of children when he urinated and made sexual remarks to one of the children.
Shantay said the children saw everything. She was shocked when her daughter told her what happened.
"It made me feel unsafe. Now it's like the kids have been robbed of their playtime," Shantay said.
The incident traumatized the kids and their parents.
"Every parent is like, 'Where is this kid? Where is that kid?' If one goes inside the house, everyone goes inside the house. If nobody is out, no one is coming out," Shantay said.
Shantay said she couldn't stop thinking about what would have happened if the man had gotten her daughter inside.
Now she's reminding other families to never get comfortable — even in your own backyard.
"Be alert. Pay attention. Be mindful of your surroundings. It can happen in a split second to your kid, your neighbor's kid," Shantay said.
13News looked at court records and one of the men has since been released and has his initial hearing scheduled for June 26.
The other man has an initial hearing set for June 13 and is still listed as an inmate of the Marion County Jail.
(NOTE: 13News does not name suspects until formal charges are filed by prosecutors.)