Sex offender arrested in Boulder abduction attempt

McCowan, who was arrested three years ago in Boulder for sexually assaulting an at-risk adult, is listed as a registered sex offender by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

CBI records indicate he was arrested twice for failing to register as a sex offender in Boulder.

He has also been arrested multiple times for harassment and drunken driving.

The man who was Tasered, 25-year-old Walter Chalco-Pariamachi of Lafayette, was medically cleared at the hospital and released by police with a summons for obstruction.

It's not clear why Chalco-Pariamachi was involved in the incident.

The boy's mother, Sara Stell, who has lived in Boulder for about a year and was having food and drinks with some friends on the restaurant's back patio Sunday afternoon, said McCowan had been hanging around and talking with her group about sports teams.

At some point later in the evening, she suddenly realized both McCowan and her son were missing.

"It was horrible," she said.

Stell said her boyfriend rushed out of the restaurant and confronted McCowan a little ways down the mall, where her son was kicking a footbag around with another man.

"(My boyfriend) picked up my son and brought him back to me," Stell said.

Wyton said while police were processing McCowan in front of Old Chicago, Chalco-Pariamachi jumped out toward police.

"It was a classic Bruce Lee karate chop," said Tim Kraft, a friend of Stell who witnessed the incident.

He said he couldn't understand what the man was saying, but it appeared he was acting in McCowan's defense.

As police continued their work, a parade of dozens of people memorializing a 14-year-old California boy who was believed to have been killed over his sexual orientation, proceeded past the front of the restaurant.

Josh Basley, a friend of Stell who was in town from Chicago, said he was amazed at the amount of activity in front of Old Chicago on a Sunday evening.

"Does this happen all the time in this town?" he asked.