Thanks to the intervention of good Samaritans, the child was saved.
A man has been arrested for attempting to snatch a toddler from her grandmother in broad daylight in New York City.
The woman and her three young grandchildren were walking in the Bronx on Monday afternoon when the attempted kidnapping occurred.
Terrifying CCTV footage shows a man covered in a blanket lunging towards them and yanking the three-year-old from her grandmother’s hold.
The grandmother helplessly tried to chase after the man before alerting passersby.
“Good Samaritans intervened and the male placed the child down before he fled the scene,” the New York City Police Department said in a statement.
WATCH: Attempted kidnapping caught on tape in the #Bronx on Baisley Avenue. News 12 is told good samaritans intervened, causing the suspect to let go of the 3 year-old child and flee on foot. pic.twitter.com/hIuQQnSiVb
— News12BX (@News12BX) October 12, 2021
One of the people who came to the family’s aid, Fermin Bracero, told NBC News that he initially didn’t realise what was happening.
“When he grabbed her, I thought it was a joke,” he said. “When she [the grandmother] said, ‘He’s taking my child away,’ I reacted and went towards him.”
The man, who police identified as 27-year-old Santiago Salcedo, was arrested the same day as the incident.
He remains in police custody and faces charges of kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.
This isn’t the only shocking footage from this year showing how quickly a snatching can occur, particularly on the streets of NYC. Back in July, NYPD released a video of a 24-year-old man attempting to kidnap a five-year-old boy walking with his mother in Queens.
