Texas cop rescues baby kidnapped in a stolen car then dumped on the side of the road
A suspect was arrested and charged in the motor vehicle theft and kidnapping
The baby was inside a stolen car and dumped on the side of the road
Harrowing body camera footage shows the moment a Texas police officer rescued a baby who had been kidnapped and abandoned on the side of the road near a pile of garbage.
The incident happened Monday evening in Fort Worth when a man named Elliot Reyes stole a running vehicle that had a woman's six-month-old son in the backseat, police say.
The mother had been making a stop at her brother's home to drop something off and left the child alone for several minutes in the parked vehicle.
Officer's managed to arrest Reyes around a mile-and-half away after neighbors saw him getting into the car and speeding off but the baby was nowhere to be found.
The newly released footage shows an officer sprinting toward the ravine and another pulling the child from his car seat.
'We've got the baby,' officers yelled out as they pulled the child - who has been hanging from his car seat's straps - from the ravine.
Suspect Elliot Reyes is being held on a bond of $68,000 after being charged with charged with burglary of a building, theft of property, and abandoning or endangering a child
Fort Worth Police Sergeant Ronnie Chau told reporters that after arresting Reyes, officers put him in a car and told him to direct them to where the baby way
Fort Worth police released the shocking body camera footage of the rescue Wednesday along with additional details regarding the save.
Police said officers were called for a report of a kidnapping in the 330 block of N. Pecan Street late Monday evening.
The child's mother said she had just stopped into the home to drop something off when a neighbor who witnessed the car theft notified her of the incident.
Reyes fled the scene and was later discovered with the vehicle but the baby was nowhere to be found when officers arrived.
Cops had Reyes take them to where he had dropped off the helpless child and found the baby near a ravine in an area littered with garbage and discarded furniture.
Dozens of officers were quickly dispatched to the scene and instructed to comb the neighborhood for the vehicle and the child.
Roughly a half hour after the call came in, the car was spotted about a mile and a half away from where it had been taken from.
As the suspect was taken into custody, police said officers began to panic as the child was nowhere to be found.
'We were freaking out at that moment. We had no baby,' Fort Worth Police Sergeant Ronnie Chau said in an interview with FOX 4 Dallas on Wednesday.
'We put him in a vehicle and had him direct us to where the baby was,' he continued.
'Just worried about where the baby can be. Where is the vehicle? And finding every method that we can and resources to get on top of this and get the baby back,' Sgt. Chau said.
Five minutes later, officers found the baby boy in the dangerous state.
'The baby was hanging on by the straps of the car seat. It was barely hanging on. His foot was in the dirt area,' Sgt. Chau continued.
The officers were seen sprinting toward the child in the footage and quickly comforting the child who was heard crying loudly.
'Aw, it's okay. It's okay,' Sgt. Chau can be heard saying in the footage.
The Fort Worth sergeant said he was just glad the baby was alive and safe.
'I was just elated. It was like an hour and a half of just buildup of just, where is this baby? Where could it be?' said Sergeant Chau on Wednesday.
'At that moment it is just pure emotion and just letting it go,' he said.
Medics examined the infant for injuries and he was returned to his mother.
'She was very happy. She was just crying the whole time, and basically she just smiled and happiness,' said Sgt. Chau.
Reyes was arrested and charged with kidnapping, abandoning/endangering a child and auto theft.
Source: Daily Mail
