Car stolen in Providence with child inside

January 19, 2016 1:48 pm

By News Staff

news@abc6.com

A frightening night for a Providence mother as she went to pick up take-out only to come out and find her car, with her child inside, was gone.

The 5-year-old girl is home safe with her mother, but the man who stole her car is still on the loose.

The mother made it too easy for the carjacker, as police say she left the car unlocked and running around 8:30 p.m. Monday night, when she ran inside the Espinal Restaurant on Plainfield Street. In the few minutes she was gone, a man jumped in and took off.

The carjacker only drove a few blocks before ditching the car and the child. Police say an 18-year-old man who was passing by heard the girl crying and helped reunite her with police and her mother. He was later questioned and cleared as a suspect.

"I was like, que paso? Whats going on?" said the 18-year-old, Gustavo Mazuelos. "And she was like ‘big dude, big dude and my moms over there!’ and where she pointed, was directly at the restaurant," he said. Mazuelos helped the girl out of the car, and walked down the street with her to search for her mother.

"He had said that he saw the girl she was crying out the window. He went over to the car to see what was happening and was told the whole story by the girl. He took her and the keys and tried to go back to the store where her mother was," says Providence Police Major David Lapatin.

Police are still searching for the man who stole the car and say the girl was able to give a good description of him. He is described as a dark-skinned man who was wearing a blue jacket, black pants, white sneakers, and a black baseball hat.

Officials strongly encourage people to use common sense and never leave a running car unlocked and unattended, especially with a child in the back seat.