Bratty Bronx tot confused for kidnapping victim: NYPD
A combative 6-year-old Bronx girl seen fighting with her family was mistaken for a kidnapping victim by neighbors, who called police and sparked a massive manhunt, the NYPD said Saturday.
Cops were called to the corner of E. 169th St. and Clay Ave. in Morrisania about 8:30 p.m. Friday after neighbors saw two men forcing the adolescent into the back of a car, police said.
According to initial reports, the child had her hands bound and her mouth covered with duct tape, police said.
Neighbors helped police, giving them images of both the suspects and the car, a white Kia with Colorado license plates, police said.
Cops shared the images with the media as they tracked down the owner of the Kia — only to learn that one of the two men was the child’s father.
The girl didn’t want to go to a family function and refused to get into the car, a police source with knowledge of the case said. After unsuccessfully trying to get the girl into the car peacefully, the two men forced her into the vehicle, which alarmed neighbors witnessing the incident.
The girl’s family is new to the area, so no one had seen them before the source said. It was not immediately clear if the men bound and gagged her as first reported.
The child was found a few hours later “in the custody of her parents and was not a victim of a crime,” said an NYPD spokeswoman, who added that the NYPD Major Case Squad was continuing to investigate.
