Italian police in Bergamo say they have arrested a man accused of attempting to abduct a toddler at a supermarket in the northern Italian city, after security footage captured a brief struggle involving the child’s parents and bystanders.

Police said the child was taken to hospital and was diagnosed with a fractured femur.

According to police accounts, the incident occurred at around 1:00 p.m. on Saturday at a supermarket within a shopping centre on Via Corridoni as a family was leaving the store.

Police said the suspect approached as the parents and their young daughter were exiting, seized the child by the legs, and attempted to pull her away from her mother and towards the shopping centre.

The mother resisted and called for help, and the child’s father intervened.

Passers-by and security staff then assisted in restraining the suspect until officers arrived.

Police said the man was taken to a police station and that investigators reconstructed the sequence of events using witness statements and surveillance footage.

Authorities said medical examinations at hospital confirmed the child had suffered a fractured femur, which police attributed to the force used during the incident.

The suspect, described by police as a Romanian man who is homeless and had no known criminal record, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated attempted kidnapping of a minor under fourteen and aggravated bodily harm.

Police said he was placed at the disposal of judicial authorities and detained pending a validation hearing.

The investigation remains ongoing.