Before the eyes of educators, parents and children, a thief stole the car of a mother who was dropping off her child at a daycare in the west of Montreal, a few meters from her door. What he didn’t know was that a 7-month-old baby was in the back seat.
“Everyone was screaming. Everyone immediately thought of the baby,” said Maria Florkow, director of the Éducaction daycare, located on Alexander Street in Pierrefonds-Roxboro. “I was in shock, like everyone else. I hoped it was a thief, and not someone who wanted to kidnap the child. »
Fortunately, the child was found safe and sound on a nearby street. The man is still actively being sought. “The thief quickly realized the child was in the back seat of the vehicle and abandoned him on a sidewalk,” explained Officer Sabrina Gauthier, spokesperson for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
Barely ten meters separate the parking spaces as well as the outdoor play area, in front of which the educators welcome the children in the morning.
Tuesday morning, shortly after 8 a.m., a mother had barely crossed this distance to drop off her eldest child when her car, a white Mazda 3, disappeared behind her. The thief, at the same time, took his youngest with him.
“The mother had just gotten out of her car,” said M.me Florkow.
Around her were around thirty people, including children, but also several adults, according to the director.
A father who also came to drop off his child was the first to shout when the individual entered the vehicle, while it was parked nearby.
“He even tried to stop her,” reported M.me Florkow. He immediately thought of the baby, it’s a small community here, everyone knows each other. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
A man who stole a car with a baby in it, before abandoning it on the sidewalk, in the west of the island of Montreal is actively sought by the police. In the photo, Maria Florkow, director of Garderie Éducaction.
The child was allegedly found in his shell on rue Bonny, adjacent to the building housing the daycare. It was a woman and her son, who live in the neighborhood, who told him they had discovered the child.
The police arrived almost at the same time. Around 8:15 a.m., a call was made to 911 regarding the theft of the Mazda 3 in Pierrefonds-Roxboro, rue Alexander. The baby, who had not suffered any injury, was quickly able to find his mother’s arms, still in a state of shock at the time.
“There were the parents, the whole team who were outside, and cameras right next to it! », deplores Mme Florkow, visibly shaken by the situation.
The man then continued his route for several kilometers before hitting a concrete wall near the intersection of Crémazie Boulevard and Saint-Urbain Street, around 8:40 a.m.
After the collision, which caused him to have a flat tire, he fled on foot, leaving the car in the middle of rue Saint-Urbain.
A daylight robbery
For the director of Éducaction, it is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness.
“That’s the time people drop off the kids. We think that car thefts happen in the evening when no one is looking… But there were around thirty people here,” she recalls.
Nearly 12,000 cars were stolen in 2023, an increase of 22% compared to 2022, according to the SPVM. Only 535 arrests were made in 2023.
On January 18, a similar event occurred in Montreal North. A man left his children aged 3 and 11 in his SUV while he ran an errand. The suspect had dropped the children off very close to the scene of the theft, which allowed them to return home on foot.
“ [Le voleur] “really had to prepare his move in advance,” says the director of the daycare.
The investigation, still ongoing, has not yet led to any arrests. For the moment, the SPVM has not provided the description of the individual or the motives for the theft.