The footage of the incident shows how scarily fast a snatching can occur...
A man in New York has been arrested for attempted kidnapping after footage showed him attempting to snatch a five-year-old boy from his mother in Queens.
Dolores Diaz Lopez had been walking with her kids to visit her husband at work at around 8pm when a stranger tried to snatch her son, Jacob.
CCTV footage shows the boy walking along the street with his mother on Hillside Avenue, Richmond Hill, when a man gets out of a parked car, makes a run for the family and snatches the boy.
The video shows him throw Jacob in the car as a second suspect sits in the passenger's seat. The child's mother then struggles to pull him through the window, eventually pulling him free.
The suspect was
reportedly caught whilst seeking some sort of treatment at Brookdale Hospital.
NYPD officers were at the hospital for an unrelated matter when they recognised him from the video and took him into custody.
https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1416218882390560773?s=20
The man has been identified as 24-year-old James McGonagle. Police are still searching for the second suspect.
Police initially charged McGonagle with attempted kidnapping, reckless endangerment and acting in a manner injurious to a child, but he now also faces charges for assaulting an officer while in custody.
An NYPD officer suffered bleeding to the face after McGonagle punched him while the officer attempted to take his fingerprints.
The motive for the attempted kidnapping remains unclear, as Diaz Lopez says the suspects were unknown to the family.
"I don't know why that happened. I didn't see those people, ever," she told Eyewitness News.
Though Jacob was not injured, she says all three of her children are now traumatised and refuse to leave their home.
"Mothers have to be careful with their children," she added. "Always hold their hand when walking with them, because there are a lot of evil people and you never know who is near."
