Child Kidnapped Uptown, Later Found Downtown
9th Sep 2005, 14:09 GMT
Another incredibly bizarre child-related incident up in Washington Heights: A woman kidnapped a 4 year-old from the restaurant where his mom was working, only to have a police manhunt trace him to the Lower East Side. Thankfully little Joshua Polanco was found safe, but people's nerves have been on edge since yesterday's baby-stabbing occured a block away. Joshua's mother was downstairs at the International Food House (Broadway and West 172nd), leaving him under the watch of three other waitresses, and then suddenly a woman just walked in and took him away. When people first saw Joshua and the suspect, they thought they were mother with misbehaving, crying child. They apparently also went to another restaurant in the neighborhood, where the woman pulled on a waitress's hair and said, "Give me my kid! Does anyone know where my kid is?" But a McDonald's surveillance video showed Josue and the suspect in Washington Heights, and interestingly enough, they were there while two police officers searched that McDonald's for Joshua. It was only when the suspect's relative called to police, as Joshua was brought to her Lower East Side apratment, that the authorities caught up.