Clearwater Police have charged an 18-year-old Ocala area man with battery in connection with an incident involving a 6-year-old girl inside a restroom at a local mall.
The incident happened at the Westfield Countryside Mall on Friday inside the Macy’s women’s restroom, police said.
Police said Ricky Blake Thompson of Umatilla was identified from a tip as the man from the surveillance photos from inside Macy's near the lower-level restrooms.
Detectives contacted him Monday morning and he came to the station voluntarily Monday afternoon, police said.
Thompson told police he was at Macy's on Friday night to pick up his young son from his estranged wife. After the two women and the child arrived (the ones also seen on surveillance photos), police said he had to use the restroom.
Thompson told police 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.
According to police, Thompson said he panicked and tried to put his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. During that process, he said, she fell to the floor.
Thompson will be booked into the Pinellas County Jail.