Another NYC thief steals car with baby inside — and may have answered owner’s phone when cops called
A brazen thief took off in an SUV with a baby girl inside Tuesday morning – just two days after an ex-con swiped a minivan with a 6-month-old boy inside, authorities said.
A man hopped inside the red Honda Pilot around 8:50 a.m. at West 134th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem – and drove off in the ride, with the1-year old in the backseat, cops said.
Authorities responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call about the disturbing broad-daylight crime.
The child’s mother – who was double-parked – had walked around to the back of the car to get her daughter out and bring her to the Chloe Day School on that block, WABC reported.
That’s when the slick suspect jumped on the moment of opportunity and hopped into the driver’s seat, according to the network.
Investigators tracked the car through a phone left inside – which they called, and the suspect may have actually answered, the outlet reported.
The motorist drove all the way to East 72nd Street between First and York avenues on the Upper East Side, where an officer spotted the stolen car, police sources said.
The baby was found unharmed and the driver was cuffed at the scene, the sources said.
Charges were still pending Tuesday afternoon.
The terrifying crime came only two days after Victor Matos, 53 – who has a history of grand larceny auto both in the city and on Long Island – took off in a minivan with a 6-month-old boy inside in the Bronx on Father’s Day, cops said.
The tot’s mom, Laquana Ruiz, was picking up a cake topper for her son’s half-year birthday at KN Mi Delicia bakery and coffee shop on Third Avenue in Mott Haven around 11:30 a.m. Sunday when Matos hopped in her vehicle and sped off, police said.
Matos was quickly nabbed in connection to the crime, and the baby was found safe, authorities said.
“I’m still so startled,” the tot’s mom, Laquana Ruiz, told The Post Monday after she had been reunited with her son. “What if he would’ve dropped my baby off at a ditch? It would’ve been harder to find my baby. I didn’t care for my car, but my baby?! That’s what I really wanted.”
