An off-duty FDNY chief used his fists to fight off a deranged man who attempted to abduct his son in broad daylight on a crowded Brooklyn street yesterday.
FDNY Battalion Chief Butch Brandes fought with the crazy-eyed man in the middle of a Brooklyn street after the man attempted to snatch his 9-year-old son Jake.
"He told me that my son is not my son, that he didn't belong to me," Brandes told the New York Daily News. "He was crazy; he kept saying that (Jake) was his son."
Brandes, of Battalion 41 in Flatbush, was walking outside the Kings Plaza mall when the attacker ran up and screamed at him and his son. He immediately put his son into their parked car and confronted the man who began to throw hay makers at him.
The two men exchanged punches on Flatbush Avenue as people looked on, including one man who captured the fight on video using his cell phone. Brandes shouted out to onlookers for help and eventually another man jumped in and tackled the attempted kidnapper from behind.
"(Brandes) was yelling as he fought, 'He's trying to take my kid - can you help me?'" Kevin Williams told The News. "I was able to get the man from behind and knock him to the ground."
Brandes suffered several minor injuries, but he was more concerned about his son's well being.
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"He was devastated by the whole thing, really upset," said Brandes. "It was a terrible, scary moment."
Brandes and Williams subdued the attacker until police arrived. He was arrested and sent for a psychiatric evaluation.
