At the Central Park playground.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A 35-year-old woman has been arrested in New York City after attempting to kidnap a toddler from a Central Park playground last week.
Authorities disclosed Cecile Jackson entered Heckscher Playground near the south end of Central Park and picked up a boy who had been sitting on a swing, according to media reports.
According to CBS New York, she subsequently attempted to leave the park with the boy, but the child’s nanny, a 27-year-old woman who was pushing his brother on an adjacent swing, confronted Jackson and took the child back.
Jackson was taken into custody after she took a seat next to two women and a young child on a park bench on Central Park West near 85th Street and waved for the child to come over to her, police sources told the New York Post.
The women immediately located a nearby police officer, who recognized Jackson as the woman who had tried to abduct the aforementioned child on May 12.
Jackson, who is believed to be homeless, was taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated. She was speaking incoherently and mouthing words without making sounds, police sources informed The Post.
Nasthasja Gregoire of Bushwick, Brooklyn, who takes her 4-year-old daughter to the playground where the abduction was attempted, said her heart “just stopped” when she heard the news.
“That’s really bold, especially the nanny’s right there,” she told NBC New York.
No one was hurt, and Jackson is now being duly charged with attempted kidnapping.