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Car Stolen At Dallas Daycare With Child Still Inside

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A child was briefly kidnapped in Dallas early Tuesday morning when a car thief stole a vehicle from in front of a daycare center. The incident happened at around 7:30 a.m. in the 3900 block of South Polk Street. The child was determined to be safe soon afterward.

When police arrived at the scene, a man at the Kids Corner Daycare explained what had happened. The 7-year-old child was inside of a car that was unattended and left running while her mother was dropping off a younger sibling. The suspect hopped into the vehicle and started to drive away.

According to the young girl's cousin, the mom had her back turned away from the car for just a second when the thief struck. The mother then chased after her vehicle and was able to slow down the suspect enough to give her daughter time to escape.

"She was dropping off her child and, when she came back to the car, the man was driving off in her car," said Angie Johnson, the little girl's cousin. "Good thing my cousin was smart enough to jump out of the car."

The girl got out of the car in front of a Chase Bank that is located within the same parking area as the daycare center. The child was taken to Children's Medical Center by Dallas Fire-Rescue and was treated for a scrape to her leg.

Meanwhile, the stolen vehicle was found abandoned in another parking lot just a few blocks away from the crime scene. There has been no word yet about a possible suspect in this case. The daycare center's owner handed over surveillance camera video to police. Investigators also searched a Nissan Ultima at the scene, said to be the car involved in this incident.

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