Police in Massachusetts have arrested an attempted kidnapping suspect caught on surveillance video allegedly trying to abduct a woman in the street over the weekend, authorities said.
Burlington police said Tyler Healey, 23, was taken into custody on Tuesday, Police Chief Thomas Browne said. He is charged with assault with intent to rape, attempt to commit a crime, assault with intent to commit a felony and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.
Healey and the victim did not know each other.
“When you find out that it was a total random attack, that puts all of us back on our heels because that’s not supposed to happen in small-town America,” he said.
Healey was arrested in the town of Winthrop and has ties to Burlington, a Boston suburb, said Browne. He was most recently living in Waltham and classifies himself as homeless, the chief said. He was not known to the Burlington Police Department.
Healey was seen on security footage taken from a local business trying to muscle a woman on foot next to the Middlesex Turnpike. The pair struggled as he appeared to drag her across a road, according to the video.
A driver called the police around 8:20 p.m. Sunday saying a man was dragging a woman away from the road. The driver pulled over and the suspect was apparently startled by the headlights and fled on foot.
Authorities said Healey touched the victim indecently during the altercation and the the 37-year-old woman’s shirt came off. She was found unharmed, police said.
Browne, who is married and has three daughters, said he warned his family after the attack to pay attention to their surroundings when out in public. He also praised the caller as a “hero” who acted selflessly and his officers given the climate surrounding law enforcement.
“We’ve gotten beaten up so bad over the past two years. This department serves as an example of what police officers are actually like,” he said. “This is how they are every single day in every single case. They prove their worth.”
Healey is noted to be arraigned in court on Wednesday.
