Babysitter charged after car stolen with 4-month-old inside, suspect on the run

NEW YORK -- A babysitter in Queens is facing charges after her car was stolen with a 4-month-old inside.

It was a devastating Thursday morning for the woman. Police found her car a short time later with the baby unharmed, but the suspect is still on the run.

As CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported, surveillance video shows how it all unfolded.

Police say 33-year-old LaToya Beckford, the driver of a grey Toyota, parked near a hydrant on Hollis Avenue for a quick sandwich run. She went in to pay, leaving the baby boy she was caring for in the car.

Literally seconds later, a man is seen walking down the street. He circles the idling car, takes a quick look around, gets in, and then takes off.

Nearly two minutes pass before the woman comes out to see that her car is gone.

Store manager Godfrey Robinson called 911.

"Very, very frantic, like didn't know what to do, literally crying," Robinson said of the babysitter. "That's just very scary."

The suspect only drove a few blocks before abandoning the car under train tracks at 195th Street, leaving the 4-month-old inside, police said.

"It's a blessing, you know, because anything could've happened. Thank God he got away and left the baby," Robinson said.

Investigators combed through a grassy area on 99th Avenue and gathered evidence while trying to track down the suspect.

"Never leave a child in the car. I don't care how old the baby is, take the child with you," Hollis resident Bintu Jalloh said. "As a mother, I know it's easier said than done because you have to take the baby out of the car seat, take the car seat out, get the stroller. I know it's hard."

It's a babysitter's worst nightmare for a babysitter.

While lucky the whole ordeal didn't have a different outcome, Beckford is now facing charges, including reckless endangerment and possession of a forged instrument.

In:
• Queens
• Hollis