Police: N.Y. man tells woman she has dead baby, tries to take it
WOODMERE, N.Y. -- A man who who police say told a woman she was "pushing a dead baby" before trying to abduct the child has been arrested, reports CBS New York.
Craig Myczkowski, 44, faces several charges including attempted unlawful imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child, burglary and other charges, according to Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Richard LeBrun.
The incident happened Monday around 12:15 p.m. in Woodmere.
Police said a nanny was walking with a 20-month-old infant in a stroller around noon Monday, in Woodmere, N.Y., when Myczkowski walked up and said she was "pushing a dead baby."
The woman tried to get away, but the man followed her, saying he needed to take the baby, police said. The woman was able to make it back home and locked the doors, but police said the suspect got into an unlocked mud room and tried to open the locked kitchen door.
Investigators said he yelled "Give me the dead baby" before he left, taking the empty stroller, which had been left outside as the woman rushed in. The stroller was later found at a pizza restaurant in Hewlett, N.Y. police said.
The suspect was seen on surveillance inside the restaurant, according to the owner of the pizza shop.
"My cameras caught him all around," the pizza shop owner told CBS New York. "Wheeling a carriage, wrapping something up like something was in there."
Police arrested Myczkowski Tuesday morning down the block from the pizza place inside an office building. LeBrun said police responded to a call of a suspicious person found sleeping on a couch in a doctor's office.
"Police were able to identify defendant Myczkowski as the subject who had attempted to abduct the 20-month-old baby yesterday and he was arrested without incident at the scene," he said.
Myczkowski, who is from the Lower East Side, is now undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, according to CBS New York.