MARYSVILLE – A 3-month-old baby boy was found safe after a thief drove off in a car with him in it.
Police found the car outside a bowling alley in the 1000 block of Columbia Avenue at 6:10 p.m. Thursday, about 25 minutes after it was taken from the driveway of a home in the 800 block of Ash Avenue about a quarter-mile away, Marysville police Cmdr. Rob Lamoureux said.
The baby was not injured.
Police are searching for a teenage girl who witnesses saw driving the car, and police believe they know her identity. They used police dogs to track the girl, but the dogs lost her scent.
“She didn’t go very far before she ditched the car,” Lamoureux said. “My guess is that she realized the baby was in the car and didn’t want to be a part of that.”
Witnesses reported seeing a girl run from the car, and she was recorded by a video camera outside the bowling alley, Lamoureux said. She was described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, about 120 pounds, with short brown hair and blue eyes.
The baby’s father had just pulled into his driveway on Ash Avenue and gone inside his house to get something, leaving the motor running and the infant in the car seat.
He went back outside just in time to see his car being driven across his lawn and down the street.
The father recognized the girl and knew her name, Lamoureux said.
The incident could have been prevented, he said.
“It’s something that law enforcement repeats over and over again,” he said. “Do not leave your car running with your child in it unattended. It only takes seconds – and in this case, it literally was seconds – for someone to drive off with your baby.
“Fortunately, in this case, it had a happy ending,” Lamoureux said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Marysville Police Department at 360-363-8326.
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