Before everyone goes HOLY BEJESUS and keeps their kids locked up. I will start out with there is a “happy” ending.
Here is the story:
I was at Marine Park with my 2 children Saturday morning between 10:15 and 11:45. My 6 year old son went to the big swings to play and I stayed by the slide with my 2 year old (about 20 feet away) and I looked over at him every 2 minutes or so. While at the swings, a man approached my son asking for his help to find his lost son. My son being the friendly kid, went to help. My son said that his son was by the big girls (there were cheerleaders practicing in the school yard of Marie Park JH that day). My son heard me calling his name when I could not find him and he started calling mommy back ( unfortunately, I did not hear him). When that happened, the man squeezed him, said he was his child and locked him in the red swing (that is the handicapped swing the straps) and left. By the time I found my son, he was crying and frightened. I looked for the man and he was gone. I went home and called the 63 and was told I had to come in to file a report. I went in that evening and was told by a female officer that is was a case of “mistaken identity” and sent on my way.
Not happy with that response, I contacted Councilman Lew Fidler’s office and spoke to his Chief of Staff, Reeves yesterday morning. Within 20 minutes I was on the phone with Deputy Inspector Cangiarella who personally arranged for us to come down yesterday and file a report. I commend the Councilman’s office, DI Cangiarella and his detectives for seeing the severity of this matter and making it a priority. I was told that the 61 will be notified as well as the community organizations.
Please help get the word out to other MP and GB residents so they can be that much more watchful of the precious children while enjoying the summer fun. I get the chills and feel sick every time I think of the what “ifs” and I don’t want any other parent feeling this way or worse if this animal is successful in his next attempt.
We get the chills here and on upon reading your story we were the first to say HOLY BEJESUS and wanted to lock up kids. We are glad nothing happened.
We are going to be weary of adults alone in a playground.
That is some crazy stuff. Glad it ended well. I think we all have to watch after each other’s kids. Thanks for the posting. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open when we’re at that park.
It is just disguisting to hear about the multiple child abductions in our neighborhood. I have heard of three in about 6 weeks. I think we need more security in this area and I do not think these frightening situatiuons should be taken so lightly. We should feel that our children are safe when we are in our local parks and neighborhood.
I am a very concerned resident of Marine Park. I am glad that in each of the incidents the children were unharmed. So far no one has offered a description of this animal. The only connection so far is a silver vehicle of some sort. If anyone has any sort of description please post it so we know what we are looking for.
I’m the mother of the 6 year old from the park. The best we could get out of our son is that he is white, around his uncle’s age (late 40s/early 50s) with brown hair. That narrows down to half the men in the park at any time. I wish had more for the parents.
How about keeping us updated on the (investigation) WoW the 63 Prct. A lot of this Neighborhood is FED UP with there I don’t want to do anything attitude..
A Men, to that….. How about that Big NYPD Mobile Truck, I see up there once in a blue.. You think Parking that back up there for a couple of weeks might Fend off an attempted CHILD Offender.If your not going to put at least one foot patrolmen at least park a marked Vehicle for a couple of hours a day ? ? ?
Good point on the NYPD. I don’t often if ever see any NYPD in the park or even Parks Enforcement. A uniform in a little scooter would be a good idea … it may scare the predators away, who by the way, I am sure, are well aware of the lack of policing.
The cop in a box who’s always on the prowl to ticket people on Ave S should make his way over to the playground once and a while.
I just saw the box cop give a ticket to a UPS truck that was “parked” at a hydrant on a one way street. Is this over zealous ticket writing really necessary? How are they supposed to make deliveries? Are they supposed to cruise around and find a parking spot? That cop has been working Ave S and Ave N for years. I guess he’s decided to expand his territory by going down the side streets.
Please let me know what the two other incidents were that were mentioned in the comments. I live across from marine park and have my kids playing on the block all the time. This is very scary.
I believe one was on Ave P and E. 37th….a man tried to get a child to come into his car…but the child ran in the house…this incident (for some crazy reason) was not reported to the police.
Not sure of the other one…sorry
The Kings Courier has an article on the front page with the police response.
The 63rd pct. is so full of lazy cops it’s not even funny. They ignore everything that goes on in the park, and around it. As if the only crime going on are parking violations.