NYC boy found on Long Island, New York after car theft triggers amber alert

October 10, 2006

An amber alert has been cancelled after an eight-year-old Inwood boy was found unharmed after a car theft-turned-kidnapping ended on Long Island.

According to various local sources, Belkis Gonzales left her sleeping child, Jay Polanco, in her SUV while she entered a store at Sherman Avenue near 204th Street. The vehicle was then stolen with the boy still inside.

Residents in the area kept their eyes open and NYPD arrived on the scene quickly.

According to news reports, the vehicle was traveling along the Northern State Parkway near Westbury when one of its tires went flat. A good Samaritan, Thomas Knabbe, pulled over to assist and became suspicious when he discovered that the driver, a white female, spoke only English, while the child spoke only Spanish.

When the Knabbe pulled up to Nassau County's 6th Precinct, the driver fled. Polanco was handed over to the police, and was reunited with a much relieved Gonzales in Manhattan.

The thief-turned-kidnapper, still not identified, was apprehended approximately an hour after fleeing the scene. According to reports, she appeared to be intoxicated when she was arrested by NCPD.