An infant was “found unharmed” Monday in downtown New Haven after a carjacker took him for a ride.
The ride began on Dixwell Avenue and Woodin Street.
The infant, who is six months old, had been left inside a vehicle at 4:13 p.m. while the driver went into a store, according to Hamden police spokesperson Capt. Ronald Smith.
The driver left the keys in the ignition. A thief came by, hopped in, and drove off southbound on Dixwell, with the baby still inside.
“Local and state authorities were notified and immediately assisted in the search,” Smith wrote in a release.
A Yale police officer spotted the stolen vehicle around 5:30 p.m. “in the vicinity of 1 Whalley Ave.,” Smith wrote. “The infant was found unharmed. The suspect was taken into custody.”
Smith Tuesday sent out a new release identifying the arrestee as a 37-year-old Hamden man who had had outstanding arrest warrants (four in total) from West Haven, Orange and Milford. Police charged him in Monday’s carjacking incident with second-degree kidnapping, risk of injury to a minor, and third-degree larceny. He was held on $250,000 bond in advance of a schedule Tuesday morning court appearance.