Contributed Photo/Courtesy: GCSO: Jacob Cassador, 27, of White River, Arizona, has been charged with aggravated assault, battery, and obstructing detention of a minor.

the suspect was in a state of extreme intoxication

John Johnson

john johnson news@gmail.com

SAFFORD – A mother and daughter were horrified earlier this month when a stranger reportedly tried to drag the little girl out of her mother’s car.

Jacob Cassador, 27, of White River, Arizona, was arrested and held in Graham County Jail. On April 25, the Graham County Attorney’s Office indicted Casador for aggravated assault on a minor, assault, and obstruction of custody.

Safford Police reported that the mother said she inadvertently made a wrong turn on Fifth Avenue on the afternoon of April 9 while driving to Ace Hardware.

Sitting at a red light at the intersection with Main Street, the woman said she made eye contact with a man crouching near a car parked on the east side of Fifth Avenue. She told her 13-year-old daughter to lock the door, but the man, later identified as Cassador, had already run to the car and tried to open the door.

According to the victim’s statement to police, the girl was unable to keep the door closed and Cassador grabbed her right arm and tried to drag her out of the car. The mother fled the scene and called the police because it hindered her aim.

Officers met with the victim, who was visibly shaken from the encounter. While she was explaining her ordeal to the officer, the girl spied on Cassador and started screaming at her.

However, two apparently intoxicated citizens had already rounded up Casador and taken him to police custody. Cassadore later showed his BAC of .380 and he needed to be medically cleared before being sent to jail.

Cassador was also the subject of two other police calls around the same time. In one, an employee at his GCRC thrift store on Main Street said Cassador was behaving aggressively inside the store and shoved an employee. Employees said they hit Cassador with a mop, broke the mop, and kicked him out while brandishing a golf club.

Another nearby business owner said Cassador was getting a haircut in his shop and was behaving strangely. He said that when Cassador left, he appeared to be harassing some children and trying to get into the truck.

Cassador claimed he had done nothing wrong and taunted the officers with racist comments. was sent to prison without