Diane DeJesus’ children are safe and back by her side after a scary ordeal on Monday, when a carjacker drove off with vehicle -- children inside.
The ordeal was over in about 10 minutes, but it was a nightmare for DeJesus, and she is warning parents not to leave their children alone in a vehicle, no matter how quick they plan to be.
"Don't do it, don't do it,” she said. “Even if it's just for a second, take your kids with you."
DeJesus stopped at the Global gas station on the corner of Quinnipiac and Foxon Boulevards just before 6 p.m., and left her 3- and 7-year-old children in the car while she stepped into the food mart, the New Haven Register reports.
As DeJesus was leaving the store to return to her car, she saw the car thief getting into the vehicle, the newspaper reports.
She yelled. The man drove off.
He abandoned the car behind 1279 Quinnipiac Ave., police said, but only after taking DeJesus’ pocketbook and car keys.
Fortunately, he released the children and Brian St. John, a mail carrier, noticed them walking down the driveway of a complex, where they were left, the Register reports.
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He saw police at the gas station, and brought them there, where they were reunited them with their mother, the Register reports.
“I was right by those bushes when I just see these two girls running out, crying hysterically,” he said.
The children were evaluated by the New Haven Fire Department and released, police said.
Police have not yet found the car thief. They are looking for a man in his late 20s, with a thin build and a mustache. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, blue jeans and a black baseball hat with a "P."
