Exclusive: Sleeping 8-Year-Old Boy Thrown From Stolen Car
By Elizabeth Hur
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A little boy, caught in the middle of a crime, spoke only to Eyewitness News Monday night.
"Excited," Kishann Gayle said.
Eight-year-old Kishann is excited now and we even got a smile and a wave out of him at the end of the night, but he and his father will tell you what happened earlier in the evening was far from exciting.
Kishann explained, "They threw me out of the car. They just told me to get out of the car and they threw me out of the car."
According to Kishann, he was sleeping in the backseat of his father's car when two men jumped in and drove away. It happened shortly before 6 p.m. in the 300 block of Hanson Street. Police say it wasn't until the two suspects got to Hanson and Pine Streets that they saw Kishann in the back and threw him out.
Lt. John Walker with the Philadelphia Police Department said, "Fortunately, there was a lady who was coming home from work. She was able to recover the child, calm him down and allow him to make a phone call."
So where was his father you ask? Worried sick, back where his car was stolen.
Devon Gayle said, "I only hoped they don't hurt my son."
Turns out, he left Kishann sleeping and the car running. He says Kishann asked for a sandwich and passed out. So instead of waking his sleeping child, he thought he could quickly run in and run out of the sandwich shop. It's a move he'll never make again.
Gayle said, "I parked the car so I could see the rear of the car from the shop. I was paying and when I came out, the car was gone. I don't care about the car. Words cannot explain it. Words cannot explain it. I was so delighted to see him."
Lt. Walker added, "Obviously people are busy but it is important you take all precautions during these holiday season. Leaving your child in the car, although it's convenient for the parent, disastrous things like this can happen. We're fortunate in this case that nothing bad happened than a kid taken for a ride with some strangers."
Kishann did not get a good look at the two suspects but described them as two black males between the ages of 18-25 and about 5'7" tall. At the time the two suspects were wearing all black clothing, one had on a black knit cap, the other wore a black hooded sweatshirt.
Lt. Walker said, "The car is a black 1995 Nissan Maxima, there's no tag on the back but there's a temporary white tag in the rear window and on the left driver of the vehicle, there's a dent in it which as some paint on it."
Anyone with information is asked to call the police.
