Woman Says Man Tried To Take Her Young Daughter On Subway
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A mother remained in fear Monday night after she said a stranger tried to kidnap her baby while they rode a subway train.
But as CBS2's Valerie Castro reported, two fellow riders stepped in to help.
Four-month-old Barbie did not seem fazed at all late Monday, but a night earlier, her mother said a strange man on the J Train tried to kidnap the girl from her stroller.
Yuberina Pena was riding the train with her mother-in-law, her niece, and Barbie, when said the train for some reasons topped on the tracks between stations in Brooklyn Sunday night.
She said a strange man began to speak to her, and eventually grabbed onto Barbie's carrier.
Pena said in Spanish that the man kept saying he wanted the girl, and that he wanted to leave and take the baby with him.
But she held onto her daughter's hand and the baby carrier, while her mother-in-law tried to intervene. After what she said was 30 minutes of back-and-forth with the man, two Good Samaritans stepped in and held down the man until the train finally pulled into the next station.
Police sources said Rafael Martinez, 31, was arrested at the Alabama Avenue subway stop and taken in to custody as an emotionally disturbed person. CBS2 is told he has a history of strange behavior.
