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Car Stolen With Boy Asleep Inside In Frankford

By Dan Wing and Jan Carabeo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Police say a young child has been reunited with his family after the car he was sleeping in was stolen from the parking lot of a Northeast Philadelphia convenience store.

Authorities say the car was stolen around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday from outside of a 7-Eleven near Bridge Street and Oxford Avenue in the city's Frankford section.

Police say the owner of the car drove to the store and left the vehicle running with his six-year-old stepson sleeping in the backseat while he went inside. At that point, police say a man got into the running vehicle and sped off.

Officers found the car abandoned about a half-hour later on the 4300 block of Leiper Street after a citywide search, and the boy was safely reunited with his mother.

Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small says, "Joy, tears, a lot of emotion. They were happy and so were we."

"It had a spoiler in the rear, it had tinted windows, it had dark wheels. So, fortunately it had a unique description."

Police say the child slept through the entire incident and was not harmed.

Inspector Small adds, "Fortunately, the vehicle was still running when the police found it because it's really, really cold out here."

Police are also thankful the boy didn't wake up and wasn't frightened because he has asthma, and was without his inhaler.

Northeast detectives are now trying to track down the suspect. They're dusting the car for prints and looking for DNA evidence.

Police say when caught, the suspect will face auto theft and kidnapping charges.

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