James McConnell, 62, was out for an evening jog Thursday when St. Petersburg Police say he became enraged at a teenager for blocking his path with their bicycle.
According to the arrest report McConnell became, “angry when the victim and his friends blocked the sidewalk with their bicycles. The Def approached the victim and called him a name. The Def grabbed the victim by the throat applying pressure. The Def then pushed the victim.”
We tried to talk to McConnell at his St. Pete home but he refused to comment.
"Without my attorney, no, I'm not going to talk to you,” McConnell said through his screen door.
Parents at Coffee Pot Park near the sidewalk where the teen was reportedly attacked were outraged.
“We don't know everything, because we wasn’t there. But, whatever it was you still don't put your hands on a child. He could've went about his business and went around the bicycles and avoided going to jail,” Latrese Allen said.
McConnell faces one charge of Felony Child Abuse.
The teen did not suffer serious injuries but police wrote in their report there were “obvious signs of injury were present on the victims neck at the time of the investigation.”
