Detroit Car Thieves Make Off With Impala, Return Baby

A crime that ends with no one being harmed is a good thing, but a Detroit family spent several agonizing hours waiting to find that out.

Three-month-old Dakota Grimes is back at home after the 2006 Chevrolet Impala she was riding in was stolen from the parking lot of a eastside Detroit convenience store just before 1 a.m. this morning, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The baby’s 30-year-old father had entered the Harper Avenue store, leaving the vehicle running with the child inside. When he came back out, both were gone.

The early lesson here? Don’t leave your baby in a running, unattended vehicle. 2006 Impalas can be replaced (in fact, quite easily!), but kids can’t.

Detroit police issued an Amber Alert after a number of delays, including the father providing an incorrect license plate number, but car and baby eventually parted. The car remained on the lam, but Dakota — still strapped in her car seat — appeared on the front porch of a Lakepointe Street home at 8:30 a.m.

The child, seemingly unharmed, was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Police Chief James Craig offered some sage parenting advice to the father, which he shared with the media.

“I will tell you and I explained it just this way to him, I said, ‘I’m angry with you. Why would you be out at 1 a.m. with a child?'” Craig told the Detroit Free Press. “Now I understand he did drop the mother off, but it was not just so much being out at 1 a.m., it was the fact that he left the child in the car with it running. That’s a recipe for what? A bad situation.”

The white Impala (license CPG8598) is still being hunted, along with three suspects, but thankfully there’s no child missing with it.

So, if you’re driving around with the little one and the hankering for chips or soda gets too great, please, go home instead or take your kid into the store. There’s nice colors in there, and usually some tinny music.

[Image: Wikipedia]