'Kidnapping prankster' says he doesn't try to hurt anyone

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A mother who said a stranger grabbed her child in NoDa is extremely upset about what turned out to be a prank.

[PAST COVERAGE: Stunned, furious mother falls victim to ‘kidnapping prank’ in NoDa]

The man behind that prank, Sandino Davis, told Channel 9 it's worth the risk of getting hurt or possibly killed to pull those jokes on the streets of Charlotte.

"It's a prank,” Davis said.

Davis' prank wasn't funny to the child’s mother.

"The kidnap test,” Davis said, describing the prank.

Davis showed Channel 9 the video of him grabbing a boy and walking off with him.

Shelly Clark, the boy's mother, said a family was taking up most of the sidewalk, so they had to go around them in a single-file line.

They were passing Davis when Clark noticed Davis pick up his cell phone and start recording what seemed like a video for Facebook Live. She said her children were behind her to get around him and to avoid getting in his shot.

Then, she heard the man say something that caused her to turn back around.

"I hear the word 'kidnapped' and as I turn, when I hear the word ‘kidnapped,’ I see him grab my son in a bear hug and he literally starts running down the street," Clark said. "My daughter is then running after him, holding onto my son's leg and trying to beat on the guy."

Clark started running after them as well.

"When I reach him, he drops my son on the ground and he crouches down to the ground and he says, 'Ma'am, ma'am, this is a kidnap pranking, I'm pranking you.'"

In the video, the boy's sister immediately grabbed him and Clark is seen walking up in the yellow shirt.

“It's unfortunate he's out there doing this stuff,” Clark said.

Channel 9 asked Davis if there was anything he’d like to say to Clark.

"What I told her before, I'm sorry. It's nothing but a prank,” Davis said.

Davis has recorded many more pranks around Charlotte, including one where he's seen putting a man in a headlock, another where he grabs a man's hat and another where he tries to touch a passenger on the light rail.

Channel 9 asked what would happen if someone pulled a gun on him.

"I don't do pranks like that. I don't do no pranks like that,” Davis said.

Last month, a warrant for Davis was filed on suspicion of disorderly conduct at a Charlotte-Area Transit System terminal and harassing passengers.

The warrant said he took items from patrons, pushed them and threw things at them in his videos.

Davis said he doesn't try to hurt anyone in his pranks.

"It's all for camera, for pranks,” Davis said.

Davis is a father, which is one of the reasons Clark has decided not to press charges, but she worries his pranks could end badly one day.

Davis also said he would do another kidnap prank video, but it would be staged.

Channel 9 reached out to police, and so far, Davis isn't being investigated for the prank in NoDa; but he's still facing charges, accused of harassing CATS passengers in 13 other prank videos.

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