Babysitter charged after car stolen with 4-month-old baby inside, fugitive suspect
NEW YORK — A Queens babysitter is facing charges after her car was stolen with a 4-month-old child inside.
It was a devastating Thursday morning for the woman. Police found his car shortly afterwards with the baby safe and sound, but the suspect is still at large.
As CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported, surveillance video shows how it all unfolded.
Police say LaToya Beckford, 33, the driver of a gray Toyota, parked near a fire hydrant on Hollis Avenue for a quick sandwich run. She went to pay, leaving the little boy she was caring for in the car.
Literally seconds later, a man is seen walking down the street. He walks around the idling car, takes a quick look around, gets in the car and drives off.
Nearly two minutes pass before the woman gets out to find that her car is gone.
Store manager Godfrey Robinson called 911.
“Very, very frantic, like I don’t know what to do, literally crying,” Robinson said of the babysitter. “It’s just very scary.”
The suspect only drove a few blocks before abandoning the car under the 195th Street train tracks, leaving the 4-month-old inside, police said.
“It’s a blessing, you know, because anything could have happened. Thank God he ran away and left the baby,” Robinson said.
Investigators combed through a grassy area on 99th Avenue and collected evidence while trying to locate the suspect.
“Never leave a child in the car. I don’t care how old the baby is, take it with you,” Hollis resident Bintu Jalloh said. “As a mom, 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, take the stroller. I know it’s is difficult.”
It’s a babysitter’s worst nightmare for a babysitter.
Although thankfully the whole ordeal did not have a different outcome, Beckford now faces charges including reckless endangerment and possession of a counterfeit instrument.
Aundrea Cline-Thomas
cnn
