BROOKLYN, NY: A man was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly attempting to kidnap a child in Brooklyn, New York.
The dramatic incident was caught on camera and shows the suspect fleeing after the child’s parents intervened.
According to the footage, the 36-year-old suspect grabbed a 6-year-old boy off a busy street in Coney Island.
He carried the screaming child a short distance before the boy’s parents gave chase, prompting the suspect to drop the child and flee the scene, according to NBC New York.
“I couldn’t believe what I saw. This man came out of nowhere and scooped up my son—he was running with him along the boardwalk,” said the boy’s father, Roy Gantt. “It was like a bad nightmare.”
Gantt said the family had been walking to get snacks when the man, dressed in black, suddenly picked up his son and began to walk off. “I had to chase him. I had to leave my baby by the Nathan’s Famous store,” he added.
The boy, identified as Rashem Gantt, told reporters the man threw him to the ground after bumping into him. He was taken to Coney Island Hospital with a head injury and is expected to recover.
Nora Smiles, a local vendor known as “The Sneaker Lady,” witnessed the incident and spoke to Freedom News TV. “The little boy was trailing behind his parents. A man came up, tried to cut him off, and then grabbed him. The boy was trying to twist away,” she recalled. “Then the man just picked him up and ran.”
The suspect ran into an intersection after dropping the child, as shown in the video. Police later arrested him, and an investigation is ongoing.
The child was reported to be in stable condition, according to the New York Post.
