UPDATE: Police on Friday night arrested the suspect accused in the brazen attempted kidnapping of a 5-year-old boy who was walking with his family in Queens.
James McGonagle, 24, of Pomonok, was taken into custody and charged with attempted kidnapping, reckless endangerment and acting in a manner injurious to a child in connection with the horrifying incident in Richmond Hill on Thursday evening, the NYPD said.
McGonagle’s alleged accomplice remains at large, New York Post reported.
The child’s mom frantically fought off the suspect. (NYPD)
NEW YORK — An alarming video released by NYPD shows a mother fight to recover her 5-year-old son who was snatched off a Queens sidewalk as the woman was out for a walk with her children, police say.
The horrifying incident that would make any parent gasp took place about 8:45 p.m. Thursday near Myrtle and Hillside avenues in Richmond Hill. The video footage shows an older model maroon sedan pull up alongside the woman and her three children, one of whom is playing slightly ahead of the mother and two siblings, New York Post reported.
A suspect — unknown to the family — jumped out of the driver’s seat, ran up to the little boy and grabbed him and shoved him into the back seat of the vehicle, the chilling footage shows. The perpetrator re-enters the driver’s area in his attempt to flee with the child.
However, the mother frantically runs over to the car and pulled the boy out through the passenger side window, rescuing the child, as the vehicle speeds away, video shows.
Police said there was another unknown man in the passenger seat during the terrifying crime.
Sources said the mother and her children were heading to her husband’s work to bring him dinner when the near-kidnapping took place.