UPDATED 7/18, 12 p.m. ET: Just a day after the New York City Police Department released surveillance footage of a mother rescuing her child from an attempted kidnapping in Queens, police have arrested a 24-year-old man in connection with the incident.
NBC New York reports that James McGonagle, 24, of Queens was arrested Friday night and charged with attempted kidnapping, reckless endangerment and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
McGonagle also faces a charge of assaulting an police officer after he punched one in the face while he was being fingerprinted.
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The New York Police Department has released surveillance footage of a mother rescuing her child from an attempted kidnapping in Queens, NYC.
According to the NYPD, the incident happened around 8 p.m. Thursday in Richmond Hill, by the corner of Hillside and Myrtle avenues.
Video shows the boy walking ahead of his mother when a man runs over from a maroon sedan parked nearby. The man, who looks to be in his 30s, grabs the child and is seen throwing him in the back seat of the car while a man in his 50s or 60s sits in the passenger seat.
“I didn’t see their faces,” the boy’s mother, Diaz Lopez, said, per WPVI. “The people, no talking, nothing, only take my kid and put him in the car.”
Lopez saw the attempted kidnapping occur, ran after the boy, and reached through the car’s open front window and forcibly pulled her child out from car. The two men quickly sped off after the boy was saved, heading southbound on Hillside Avenue. They then went westbound on Jamaica Avenue, according to the NYPD.
“I didn’t see their faces,” the mother added. “The people, no talking, nothing, only take my kid and put him in the car.”
The boy was luckily not injured in the attempted kidnapping, officials said.
