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One of a parent's worst nightmares was realized when a running vehicle with a child still inside was stolen by a suspect in Westchester who now remains on the loose.
The incident happened on Thursday, March 2 around 8:10 a.m., when police in Eastchester were notified that a vehicle with a child inside had been stolen while parked in the Green Knolls part of town.
The vehicle had been left running with the key inside while its owner had been escorting another child to a bus stop in the immediate vicinity of the car, police said. While this happened, the vehicle's owner saw a man enter the car and tried to stop him before he drove away from the scene with the child still inside, Eastchester Police said.
The suspect then drove the vehicle to the intersection of Scarsdale Avenue and Harney Road, where he then stopped and removed the child from the car.
According to witnesses who saw this, the man then tried to get back in the stolen car but once he realized he had been seen, he fled the scene in another vehicle that had been waiting for him.
This awaiting vehicle, a white Audi SUV that had been occupied by four Black men and a Black woman in their late teens or early 20s, was then seen driving on Harney Road toward the Bronx River Parkway.
After this, the stolen vehicle was recovered and the child, who was found unharmed, was reunited with their parents.
The suspect who stole the car is described as an approximately 20-year-old Black man who is six feet tall with a thin build and dreadlocks.
Later on Thursday, the Audi that the suspect had escaped in was found abandoned on the side of the road in New Jersey, Eastchester Police announced around 3 p.m. Authorities later discovered that this vehicle had been stolen from a municipality in New Jersey.
The suspect and his accomplices were not found with the vehicle.
Eastchester PD said that similar incidents involving stolen vehicles have been on the rise in the past two years.
"As always, we remind residents to remain vigilant of their surroundings, never leave their vehicle running unoccupied, never leave their key inside the vehicle, and ensure to lock their vehicles especially overnight," the department said.
Anyone who saw or recorded footage of the incident is asked to call the department's detective division at 914-961-3464.
This is a developing story. Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
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