A Brooklyn father has praised his pregnant wife as a hero after the off-duty NYPD officer rescued their 4-year-old son from an alleged attempted kidnapping earlier this week.
“His mom pulled him away from her,” Gentle Roberts said Thursday of his wife, Anyia James Roberts, who is seven months pregnant. “She’s a strong woman. She’s back at work today.”
Roberts said the child was with his 66-year-old grandmother outside a McDonald’s in Crown Heights when a woman suddenly grabbed the boy by his shirt and tried to drag him away.
The stranger repeatedly insisted, “That’s my kid,” Roberts told The Post. He said she seized the boy near the shoulder of his shirt and refused to release him as she struggled with his grandmother. The child was pulled between the two women and began crying.
Roberts said the woman did not appear homeless and looked clean. She was carrying a phone, and the family had never seen her before.
According to police, the disturbing confrontation happened at about 5 p.m. near East Parkway and Utica Avenue, while the boy was walking with his grandmother.
The woman allegedly attempted to take the child before his mother arrived and intervened, acting both as a protective parent and a trained police officer.
The suspect fled after the boy’s mother pulled him to safety. Although frightened and in tears, the child was not physically injured and returned to school Thursday. Police are continuing to search for the woman.
The NYPD has released surveillance images of the alleged attempted kidnapping suspect and is asking anyone who recognizes her or knows where she may be to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
“I want them to find her because if she doesn’t get him, she could come back and try again,” Gentle Roberts said. “Or she could target another child. She’s definitely not right. I would tell her to turn herself in. They’re looking for you.”
