What to Know
- The NYPD says a duo attempted to kidnap a 5-year-old boy in Queens Thursday -- an attempt that was thwarted by the young child's mother
- According to police, the kidnapping attempt took place around 8 p.m. on Hillside Avenue when one individual picked up the 5-year-old boy from the sidewalk
- Police say that as the first individual sat in the driver's seat, the boy's 45-year-old mother, Dolores Diaz, pulled her child out of the car through the front passenger window
A man arrested Friday in connection to a shocking kidnapping attempt caught on camera allegedly punched an officer in the face, a senior NYPD official says.
James McGonagle, 24, of Queens was arrested Friday night on charges of attempted kidnapping. There was no further information on the second suspect. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital with multiple cuts on his face, officials said.
The next morning, while still in the hospital, McGonagle was being fingerprinted by officers when he allegedly punched one in the face, the senior official said. In addition to the reckless endangerment and attempted kidnapping charges, McGonagle will face a charge of assaulting an officer.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Police say McGonagle is one half of a duo they say attempted to kidnap a 5-year-old boy in Queens Thursday -- an attempt that was thwarted by the young child's mother.
According to police, the kidnapping attempt took place around 8 p.m. on Hillside Avenue when one individual picked up the 5-year-old boy from the sidewalk and placed him in the rear seat of his vehicle while the second individual sat in the front passenger's seat.
News
However, the alleged kidnapping attempt was not a success. Police say that as the first individual sat in the driver's seat, the boy's 45-year-old mother, Dolores Diaz, pulled her child out of the car through the front passenger window before the two individuals fled in their vehicle.
Surveillance video released by police shows the harrowing moments lived by the child's mother and others walking close behind him when all of a sudden a man jumps from a vehicle and grabs the child, forcing him into the car, while the child's mother and others frantically try to save him, ultimately managing to rescue him before the car flees.
NBC 4 New York spoke with the mother of the 5-year-old who was nearly kidnapped. She said was going to meet her husband at work with her three kids in tow when the man approached her young son, snatched him and put the child in his car. She said it was at this point that she started screaming. It was when her son stood up in the backseat of the car that she pulled him through the window, she said.
A nearby store owner told News 4, one of the men involved had been in there minutes prior to purchase a beer.
The victim was not injured during the incident, according to police.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
