my day - 1 year old in lap in front seat and a kidnapping

So, we headed down to New Orleans on Saturday for a family gathering. We are an hour away from there. Not long after we get on I-10, I notice a car with a child sitting on the lap of the front passenger. The child had to have been barely one as she looked younger than my 19 month old. My jaw drops as I see the child with her hands on the spot where the air bags come from. :eek: These people were driving a very nice/ new looking Mercedes so I KNOW they can afford a carseat. BTW, I didn't notice one in the back. Of course, I grabbed my cell and called 911 to be connected to state troopers. I tell them what I am seeing and they tell me they will get someone out there. I tell them exactly where we are on the interstate and my # to call me. Since I still had an hour drive ahead of me on this stretch, I would still be within eye sight of them unless they got off. Not likely with this stretch of road cause there isn't much there. After a good while of getting no response, I call and ask to be transferred. My heart was just sinking as we were going 80 mph and they were going even faster at some points. I couldn't let it go. We knew they were going to get on the Bonne Carre Spillway and not going anywhere for a while as there is no way off or turnaround, so that is when I called them. I was transferred to city police. I tell them and they see if there is an officer to respond. By the time she figured that out, we were heading out of their jurisdiction and we were getting off the spillway. she tells me she is going to transfer me to state troopers. As soon as we got off the spillway, there was a trooper sitting there like he was waiting for us. I think "great! there is the trooper and the mercedes is right in front of us!". but he didn't budge. I get the state troopers on the line and tell them we just passed a ST just sitting there. The supervisor tells me he isn't positioned there and isn't going to move because they are waiting to see if a kidnapper comes off the spillway! :eek: so, yeah, there was a kidnapping that all of the units are working on and that is why I was having such a hard time getting someone to respond! I have no idea if they caught that guy or not as it was not on the news. I completely understand the priority here. THen the supervisor says he can get a unit to respond. however, that didn't happen. there were too many turns once we got into new orleans and the new orleans police (the best around :thumbsdown: ) couldn't get things in action despite seeing one pass right in front of me and I was stuck at a redlight with no way to flag him. so, we followed these people until they pulled over downtown. we were careful to not be right behind them the whole time and kept going when they pulled into a parking lot. SO frustrating that I reported this almost an hour before they reached their destination and we got NO real response. It seems like when you need a cop, none are around. Just makes me sad that these people drove at such speeds with a child younger than my 19 month old on the lap of the front seat passenger. :mad: I talked to either 911, city police, or state troopers for at least 30 minutes airtime. I gave them descriptions of everyone and everything. I really hope this was a 1 time thing for this family and they never do it again, but I doubt it.

and I pray that the kidnapped child was recovered unharmed!
 
ADS

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
and I pray that the kidnapped child was recovered unharmed!

And I hope that by some weird fluke this didn't happen to be the child who was kidnapped...

We followed a drunk driver for an hour on the highway once talking with the police multiple times and watching the guy nearly drive off the highway a number of times - 110 to 120km/hr which I think is around 70mph? They dispatched someone, but because we were moving through districts, by the time they would figure out where we were, the guy they dispatched was unable to go fast enough to catch up to us. They indicated they were passing it off to the city police, but when we called the city police they had no information forwarded to them yet, and then the guy got off. It was really upsetting watching this guy for that long and knowing he was obviously impaired in some way, and that even despite them dispatching a unit they couldn't send one within a range able to pull the guy over. :(

So I feel your frustration. On the plus side they got where they were going without crashing and the police at least took your concern seriously even if they weren't able to get someone there...
 

moobiegirl

New member
I hope the kidnapper was caught and the child(ren) were returned safely.

I have a similar story that happened over the weekend too:

I was driving on I-95 and saw a young child sitting in the middle of the front seat (like on top of the emergency break). I called 911 and they weren't going to do anything until right before we hung up I noticed the car swerve over the line. Once I mentioned that the car was swerving they transfered me to the State Police to respond. We followed them for 20 miles past two troopers and no one responded before we got off our exit.

I know how frustrating it can be to want to do the right thing.
 
And I hope that by some weird fluke this didn't happen to be the child who was kidnapped...

that is exactly what my husband said as we passed them when they pulled into a parking lot.

I tried to look up info on the kidnapping, but found nothing. I guess these things don't always make it to headlines. We didn't have the radio on so we don't know if there were any amber alerts.
 

ovlmommy

New member
Oh wow, scary..I live right by New Orleans. So sad :(

And I don't know what some people are thinking driving with a baby like that! I saw a lady today with a very nice, newer car...her little girl was sitting in a VERY old seat..probably 15 years old :eek: She was probably about 3 so atleast she wasn't in a booster but don't know such an expired seat is any better :thumbsdown:
 
http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?p...rg=blsadstrgt&_lid=332&_lnm=tg+ne+topnews&ck=

This poped up on my ATT homepage :(

What you saw is something I see all too often here-and NOTHING is done about it :mad:

thank you for the information. I hadn't seen anything about it other than what the supervisor told me. So sad :( I'm so glad they have charged someone with it.

I'm in Baton Rouge, but down in New Orleans are all the time. Well, really, we stick the Metairie and Kenner area. We used to live in the nice area of New Orleans until Katrina. We just go to NO to see family members or the zoo ro aquarium. My DH's whole family is down here.

It really hurts my gut to see children not in proper carseats or not in them at all. Sadly, I've made several phone calls to the police and gotten several people pulled over. Once in a taco bell drive thru, I called the cops on the people in front of me. there was a 1 -2 year old running around the back seat when they pulled into the line and the child ran around the whole time we were in line. I got the TB employees to hold up their meal until the cop arrived. once he got there, they gave them their food and the cop pulled up to them and made them pull over. But that's not the first time I've done something like that. the first was a NEWBORN being held in the arms of the front passenger. nobody in seatbelts and they were busy eatin fried chicken. there was a cop a few cars up at the light, so we pulled up next to him and I reported them. watch him pull them over. I just wanna throw a heavy brick at some parents to knock some sense into them. :mad: It's not they like they don't KNOW that the child needs to be in a carseat. :rolleyes:
 

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