HARRISBURG, Pa. — A vehicle with a 4-month-old infant inside was stolen Saturday evening in Harrisburg, leading to a two-hour search.
Police said a woman left her 2008 black Nissan Quest minivan running and unattended while she went inside a Harrisburg gas station at the intersection of North 6th and Maclay Sts.
Around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, someone got in the car and drove away.
The Harrisburg Bureau of Police immediately launched a search.
Officials said the rapidly falling temperature outside fueled their sense of urgency. That day hit a low of 25 degrees. Babies have a higher risk of hypothermia due to their small body size, according to the Children’s Health Network.
“I don’t know if the baby would have survived if we hadn’t found it within 24 hours or overnight,” said Lt. Kyle Gautsch.
Gautsch said the department was working with Pennsylvania State Police to issue an Amber Alert while patrol cars continued their grid search. At 9:45 p.m., right before the Amber Alert was about to go live, a patrol car found the stolen vehicle abandoned on Augusta St. and Charles Alley. The car was turned off.
The infant was found asleep in the back. She was taken to the hospital as a precaution, found to be healthy and released, police said.
Police believe the person who stole the car is a juvenile. They are in the process of reviewing surveillance camera footage of the incident.
It’s common to see robberies of cars left on and unattended, officials said. Over the weekend alone, Harrisburg had three more stolen vehicles, all of which had been left unlocked and running.
In one case, after a vehicle was stolen from 2nd and Maclay Sts., three juveniles were taken in custody, police said.
“We tend to see that on a yearly basis this time of year when the temperature gets cold. People leave their vehicles unattended in order to obviously warm them up before they have to travel around,” Gautsch said. “Obviously we see a lot of vehicles are left running and unattended, and that’s one thing. But to leave a 4-month-old child in the vehicle, that’s troubling to most people.”
The car thief could face grand theft auto charges, as well as charges related to interfering with the custody of a child.
The baby’s mother could also face charges, since it’s illegal in Pennsylvania to leave a car on and unattended. Leaving a child under the age of 6 unattended in a car is a separate crime.