Suspect Who Stole Woman's SUV With 1-Year-Old Boy In Backseat Still At Large
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The search is on for a suspect who stole an SUV with a 1-year-old boy in the backseat.
A neighbor found the car with the child inside late Monday night at Park Place and Ralph Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
"I'm still in shock, I can't believe it," she told CBS2.
Sincere Gilchrist, 1, was missing for about two hours, sparking an Amber Alert.
"God put me here for a reason. I was supposed to save that baby, and I'm happy he's alive," said the neighbor.
Around 7 p.m. the boy's mother pulled the SUV over at the corner of Kingston Avenue and Dean Street and ran into a restaurant to pick up her order, leaving the car running with her son in the backseat.
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"She was in the store approximately 30 seconds when an unknown male black walked up to the vehicle, entered the vehicle and pulled off," NYPD Assistant Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said.
About two hours later and a mile and a half away, the neighbor spotted the white SUV on her street with its hazard lights on for over an hour. It seemed strange, until she got an Amber Alert on her phone and put two and two together.
"I was so scared. I run to my super and told him, I said, 'That is a stolen car and the baby is inside,'" she said. "My neighbor opened the door to let air in for the baby, and we noticed he was breathing. I said, 'He's alive, he's breathing."
Fortunately, this story has a happy ending, but police want to warn others.
"If you leave your vehicle running for a split second, you create an opportunity for someone to steal your car," said Maddrey.
Police said the boy's mother is not being charged. She told CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis being reunited with him was the best feeling of her life.
Investigators are looking at surveillance video and speaking with witnesses to try and track down the suspect.
