Police in Saitama have arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of assault after he was caught choking a baby girl on the train because she was crying.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 6:55 p.m. on Wednesday on a train that was stopped at Omiya Station on the JR Kawagoe Line. The one-year-old baby on the train began crying and as her mother, 25, was trying to soothe her, the suspect, Kosuke Maeda, suddenly came over and began choking the baby, Sankei Shimbun reported.

Maeda was arrested on the spot by a policeman who happened to be on the same train.

The baby was not seriously hurt, police said.

Maeda was quoted by police as saying that he thought “the baby was suffering” and wanted to help. Maeda said he did not know the baby or her family personally, police said.

© Japan Today