Mount Vernon police arrested a woman who allegedly stole an SUV with a 22-month-old girl inside.
Tiauna Crump was taken into custody Tuesday, Sept. 1, after the Mazda SUV was boxed in by a garbage truck and another car near police headquarters after the toddler's uncle chased her from where the car was taken in Fleetwood, according to court documents.
She had allegedly taken the car at around 10:45 am from Birch Street near her Westchester Avenue home. The mother of the girl was dropping off her other daughter with the uncle when she saw Crump get in the car. She tried opening one of the car doors but couldn't before Crump pulled away.
According to court records, the uncle told police he gave chase, pulling up beside the SUV twice to get Crump's
attention and tell her there was a young child inside, first on Urban Street and then on Gramatan Avenue. The second time, he told police, Crump tried to hit his car before she drove off again, turning on West Lincoln Avenue and then North Fifth Street. The uncle continued to chase the SUV and when it was boxed in he pulled Crump from the car.
The child was uninjured but taken to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx for observation, according to the court documents.
According to a court document, Crump told police she had been heading to police headquarters to report thefts in her neighborhood and knew the child had been in the car. The uncle told police that she had told him she was going to report that her pocketbook was stolen.
The mother told police she had seen Crump yelling and throwing things from her apartment window the day before. The uncle said he had contacted police about Crump on previous occasions because of concerns about her mental health.
Crump, 52, was scheduled to be arraigned in City Court Wednesday afternoon on felony charges of second-degree kidnapping, third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, and a pair of misdemeanors, second-degree reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Exclusive| Mount Vernon woman accused of taking car with baby inside
