Polish millionaire apologizes after snatching signed hat from child at US Open

NEW YORK (KABC) -- A Polish millionaire and CEO, who took tennis player Kamil Majchrzak's hat from a young fan at the U.S. Open, apologized on social media and said he has returned it.

Piotr Szczerek posted an apology on social media Monday after video of the incident went viral over the weekend. The broadcast showed Szczerek grabbing Majchrzak's hat from a boy after the player's singles match against Karen Khachanov.

"What are you doing?" the child, whose name is Brock, yells as the man stuffs the hat in a bag.

Szczerek, who is from Poland, wrote on Facebook that he made a mistake thinking Majchrzak was giving him the hat for his sons, who had asked earlier for an autograph. In the post, he said he had apologized personally.

Initially, Szczerek did not issue an apology.

After facing criticism online, the man said, "If you were faster, you would have it," and threatened legal action for people criticizing him.

Social media users identified the man in the video as a Polish CEO.

Majchrzak -- with some help from the internet -- said on social media that he reached out to the boy's family and met with him to give him a new hat and take photos with him.

Majchrzak saw the now-viral video and took to social media to enlist the public's help in locating the boy.

"After the match, I didn't record that my cap didn't get to the boy... Could you help me find the kid from my match?" Majchrzak wrote on his Instagram story.

On Saturday, Majchrzak posted a video of his meeting with Brock, which included lots of gifted merchandise.

"Hello World, Together with Brock we wish you a great day!" Majchrzak captioned a photo of them.

The 29-year-old, who is also from Poland, saw his US Open run end Saturday when he was forced to retire from his third-round match against Leandro Riedi while leading 5-3.

The Associated Press and ESPN contributed to this report.