Saturday night, thousands of visitors were downtown for the annual Christmas Lighting. All around were various activities such as making s’mores, riding the Grinch Train, ice bumper cars and, of course, the favorite, ice skating. Thanks to a parent’s watchful eye and trusting her instincts, an incident that could have potentially led to something extremely hurtful, instead became a few scary moments and resulted in an arrest.
Kasey Breazeale shared the situation on her social media page that has since been shared more than 1,000 times. Breazeale was watching her two young daughters ice skate when she noticed two strange men grabbing one of her daughters for a photo in the middle of the ice rink. Immediately, the second daughter was also being pulled in for pictures.
Breazeale wasted no time in contacting an Experience Columbia worker who, along with Michael Super, a former police officer, quickly acted and stopped the men. She said it was within a minute that multiple staff members and police officers were on the scene. The phone being used for the photos was confiscated by the Columbia Police Department, and Salvador Mendez-Santiz, 23, of Petal was arrested. He was charged with disorderly conduct: failure to comply with law enforcement command and providing false information to a law enforcement officer. Columbia Police Chief Michael Kelly said the investigation is continuing and that Mendez-Santiz could face more charges.
Kelly had nothing but praise for Breazeale and her quick actions.
“The No. 1 reason this guy was caught was because parents were watching their kids,” he said.
Kelly said due to the size of the downtown event, what happened was not surprising. However, he added the department was ready to quickly step in and do what needed to be done. The officers are trained to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
“We know there are going to be a lot of kids at the skating rink, so as a preventive measure, we keep an officer posted at the rink whenever the rink is open,” Kelly said.
He stressed that the event itself is safe. On the weekends, extra officers are posted downtown. However, the best form of protection is for parents to keep an eye on their children. If a parent sees anything suspicious, he encourages them to report it right away.
“Parents need to be the front-line guardians of their children. They need to know where their children are located and what they are doing. Also be checking your children’s phones and social media accounts to make sure nothing potentially dangerous is happening,” Kelly said.
Kevin Buckley with Experience Columbia issued a statement regarding the incident. “There are many things to be thankful for during the holiday season. After this past weekend, our Experience Columbia (EC) team is thankful that all our planning, training and executing resolved an unfortunate situation swiftly and justly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to this family and we are thankful for our partnership with the Columbia Police Department.”
The statement continued, “One of our main missions at Experience Columbia is to provide a safe environment so families can experience all that the holidays have to offer. Whether helping guests ice skate or serving hot chocolate, we always strive to maintain constant communication amongst our staff. Our commercial-grade communication system is distributed to all managers, main booth attendants and key location attendants. The entire EC team and CPD is just a breath away. While you visit downtown, our EC team members are easy to identify with branded clothing for immediate assistance. CPD also provides officers every day in uniform and some in civilian attire. Our daily cooperation with the department’s commitment to ensuring the safety of citizens and all visitors.
“Our small town is known for its world-class Christmas attractions for families and friends. While unfortunate circumstances can arise in any town, our EC team alongside the CPD stands ready to proactively respond. It has been said in the past it takes a village to raise a child – this weekend was a perfect example of that type of collaboration and coordination between parents, Experience Columbia staff and Columbia Police Department,” the statement concluded.
Super praised everyone for their quick actions and having officers on the scene right away. He was also impressed with how the officers made sure the young girls were safe and not scared any longer. He, like Kelly, warned parents to be vigilant when it comes to children and knowing where they are and making sure they are safe. However, he also stressed the downtown events are safe and that everyone should feel safe in attending.
“You are safer (there) than going to your local store. When an event worker called for police on the radio, there were multiple officers standing by me in under 60 seconds. The number of uniformed and plain clothed officers walking around downtown is amazing for such a small municipality and county,” he said.
While the situation was very scary, Breazeale said it did not ruin the family’s evening. On her social media page, she posted several pictures and said that despite what happened, they were able to have a great night with friends and family.
