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Man Steals Car Near JFK Airport With 9-Year-Old Inside

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- A terrifying ordeal for any driver was made even worse Friday for one Queens father when his car was stolen - with his son still in the backseat.

At around 7:30 a.m., the unidentified driver pulled his red Honda with Florida plates over outside a deli near John F. Kennedy Airport.

The man left his child in the back seat.

Another man jumped into the car and took off, apparently unaware of the child in the backseat. The car had heavily tinted windows, so it's likely the thief never realized there was a child inside, reports CBS 2's Tony Aiello.

The child's father, though, had left his cell phone in the front seat, a witness said.

"The detective had said that the father had left his cellphone in the car," witness Yvette Calderon recounted. "So he called his cellphone, and the guy picked up and gave the phone to the kid and told the kid, 'Tell your parents you're okay, and tell them to come get you over here.'"

The carjacker ditched the car near 231st St. and South Conduit in Springfield Gardens.

The boy appeared to be shaken, but uninjured.

"I thank God that the kid wasn't hurt, that the guy had heart to let him go and not harm him," Calderon said.

The carjacker fled the scene on foot. Police brought search dogs who tracked a scent to an empty home on 232nd Street, but didn't find anyone inside.

The NYPD said it was working with the child and his family, trying to get enough information to release a description of the suspect.

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