Man Charged In Clearwater Macy's Bathroom Attack

CLEARWATER, FL — An 18-year-old Umatilla man faces a battery charge following an attack on a 6-year-old girl in the Westfield Countryside mall Macy’s women’s bathroom on Friday night.

According to the Clearwater Police Department, Ricky Blake Thompson was charged in the case Monday after a tip came in about the suspect’s identity.

“Detectives contacted him Monday morning and he came to the station voluntarily this afternoon,” the police department wrote in an email to media.

Thompson had not yet been booked into the Pinellas County Jail as of late Monday afternoon.

“Thompson said he was at Macy’s on Friday night to pick up his young son from his estranged wife,” the email said. “After the two women and the child arrived (the ones also seen on surveillance photos), he had to use the restroom. He said he mistakenly went into the women’s restroom and on the way out, the 6-year-old girl saw him from inside her partially open stall and she screamed.”

Thompson told police he panicked and tried to cover the girl’s mouth to stop her from screaming. The child fell to the floor as that happened, Thompson told police.

The girl, who isn’t being identified, was not injured in the incident.

The case remains under review by the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney’s Office.

No further details are available at this time.

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