An off-duty Georgia police officer saved a kidnapped seven-month-old girl sleeping inside a car stolen from a parking lot, police said.
Gwinnett County Police said the kidnapping took place on Monday around 6:00 p.m. near the 1400 block of Sugarloaf Parkway.
Several people dialed 911 reporting that a car had been stolen with an infant inside, WGCL reported.
Police said the child’s father went inside a store and left the sleeping infant in the car with the vehicle running.
When the father came out of the store, the father said he saw a man sitting in the car’s driver’s seat, WSB-TV reported.
“The father confronted the male, who put the vehicle in reverse and began driving recklessly out of the parking lot. On the way out of the parking lot, the vehicle struck a sign, another vehicle, and jumped the curb,” according to Gwinnett County police.
An off-duty officer who responded to the call discovered the car was abandoned less than a mile away from the parking lot.
The seven-month-old was still in the backseat unharmed.
Officers searched the area for the suspect and took Joshua Rodriguez, 29, of Buford, into custody.
Rodriguez faces charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, theft of a motor vehicle, and two counts of hit-and-run, according to a release from the Gwinnett County Police Department.
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