Two women with an unspecified state agency were transporting Imani McRae, 31, of Paterson and her son in a minivan when she “became agitated and assaulted” both of them in the area of 20th and Railroad avenues Friday afternoon, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said in a joint statement with police.
The women – one 41, the other 47 – told responding officers that McRae forced them both out of their 2019 Caravan before speeding off with her son in the back seat.
City police found the boy about two hours later near the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Franklin Street, about two miles north of the crime scene, the prosecutor said.
He was unharmed, responders said.
New Jersey State Police were notified and the Caravan was at first pinged to Belleville, they said.
Sayreville police captured McRaie on Radford Ferry Road near the Raritan River in South Amboy around 4:30 p.m. – roughly two hours after the boy was found -- Valdes said in a joint statement with Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora and Sayreville Police Chief John Zebrowski.
McRaie remains held in the Passaic County Jail, charged with carjacking, child endangerment, aggravated assault, eluding and hindering her arrest.
Valdes didn't say what happened to the boy.
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