Austin Blake Stewart Oregon man arrested kissing baby on lips in Springfield supermarket before fleeing grocery store. No known motive.
An Oregon man has been accused of pulling down his face mask at a Springfield supermarket only to kiss a stranger’s baby on the mouth at the grocery store, according to reports.
Austin Blake Stewart, 24, allegedly smooched the 1-year-old girl while her mother was looking in a different direction at a WINCO store in Springfield at around 6 p.m. Thursday according to a release via the Springfield Police Dept, Oregon.
Stewart is alleged to have then fled the shop as the toddler’s mother searched for him and alerted store workers.
The child’s father then flagged down a police officer and reported that a man had just ‘kissed his daughter on the lips,’ investigators told FOX 10.
Police later found Stewart, of Springfield, hiding under a blanket on a nearby street and charged him with physical harassment and disorderly conduct, KEZI reports.
‘While the mother glanced away for a brief moment, the suspect leaned down, removed his mask and kissed their daughter on the lips and then departed,’ police said in the report.
It continued to remain unclear what led to the man kissing the child’s lips – whether it was a spontaneous act or something that the suspect had sought to orchestrate.
