An off-duty NYPD officer rescued her 4-year-old son from a would-be kidnapper who snatched him from his grandmother outside a Brooklyn McDonald’s, authorities said Wednesday.
The boy’s 66-year-old grandmother had been standing with the child outside the fast food restaurant on Eastern Parkway near Utica Avenue in Crown Heights when the stranger struck around 5 p.m. Monday, according to police and law enforcement sources.
The woman pulled the boy away from his grandmother and attempted to cross the street with him, sources said.
The child’s mother, an off-duty NYPD cop, grabbed her son back from the would-be captor, the sources said.
The suspect then fled empty-handed. No injuries were reported in the incident, police said.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect Wednesday in an effort to track her down. She is shown wearing a white shirt, black shorts and black sandals.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the woman’s whereabouts to contact the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish speakers, at 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website or on X at @NYPDTips.
The brazen daylight attempt unfolded in a busy section of Crown Heights, a neighborhood in central Brooklyn where Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue intersect near several commercial establishments.
Monday’s incident marked the second high-profile case in recent months in which an off-duty officer intervened in a crime while with family. The quick action by the officer-mother prevented what could have become a prolonged abduction investigation.
The grandmother, 66, was not physically harmed during the encounter, according to police.
The suspect remains at large as of Wednesday, with no arrests made in the case.
Police have not released additional details about what may have motivated the attempted kidnapping or whether the suspect and the family had any prior connection.
The boy was reunited with his mother and grandmother following the brief but frightening encounter.
The investigation remains active as detectives work to identify and locate the woman captured in the surveillance images.