Woman’s 5-year-old son briefly kidnapped during Mid-City auto theft, NOPD says

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Two opportunistic car thieves stole a vehicle that was left running outside a Mid-City restaurant with a sleeping child in the back seat, New Orleans police said Saturday (Jan. 8).

The child, a 5-year-old boy, was found unharmed 21 minutes later when the vehicle was abandoned about a mile away, police said.

The NOPD said the car was stolen Friday at 7:24 p.m. The boy’s mother left her car running when she went into a restaurant near the corner of Norman C. Francis Parkway and Bienville Street in Mid-City to pick up a takeout food order.

While she was inside, police said she saw two men drive up in an unknown vehicle, and one jumped into her car. The man sped off with her car and sleeping son as she tried to stop the auto theft, police said.

The NOPD said officers were alerted at 7:45 p.m. to a vehicle matching the description of the woman’s stolen car, which had been left running with a child inside at the intersection of North Dupre and Desoto streets, about a mile northeast of where the car was stolen. Police said the boy was found unharmed and was reunited with his mother.

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