A Georgia mother returned from an Instacart drop-off to an empty parking spot and a nightmare: her running car had disappeared with her 2-year-old daughter still strapped in the back seat.
The July 30 theft launched a fast Atlanta police search that ended at a nearby Publix shopping center less than 15 minutes later, where officers found the crying toddler inside the stolen vehicle and arrested 21-year-old Saleem Martin.
“Someone just stole my car and it has my 2-year-old daughter in it,” the mother told an Atlanta 911 dispatcher.
She had left the vehicle running while delivering the order around 4:30 p.m. and later estimated she had been away for less than four minutes, Atlanta police said.
The dispatcher asked whether the girl was still in the car.
“Yes, my 2-year-old daughter was in the backseat,” the mother said through tears. “I was dropping off an Instacart order and I came back outside and my car is gone. My daughter was inside.”
Officers with the Atlanta Police Department’s Auto Crimes Enforcement Unit used the city’s license plate reader network to find the vehicle before the child could be driven farther away.
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Body-camera video captured officers closing in with weapons drawn while the toddler cried from inside.
“Hands up! Hands up!” one officer shouted.
The suspect was ordered to step out slowly and face away from police.
“What you’re gonna do is you’re going to get out and face away from me,” the officer instructed. “Get out the car, slow. Put your hands behind your back.”
Martin complied and was taken into custody without further incident.
Another officer moved toward the screaming child and tried to comfort her.
“It’s okay, baby,” the officer said.
Martin was later charged with kidnapping, theft by taking, simple battery, entering an automobile, cruelty to children and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
The toddler first appeared to be unharmed, but the reunion with her mother brought a new allegation into the case.
An arrest warrant said the mother noticed the bottom of the girl’s dress had been unbuttoned after they were back together. When she asked what happened, the child allegedly answered, “The man did it,” referring to Martin.
The warrant also said officers found Martin with both hands on the child’s torso as he tried to duck down and hide between the seats while police surrounded the vehicle.
Atlanta police said the Special Victims Unit joined the investigation.
Martin denied anything sexual and told investigators he had touched the toddler only because he was trying to calm her after she started crying. He also said he took the running car because he was trying to “get back to New Jersey” and claimed he did not realize the child was inside until after he had driven away.
Investigators said Martin admitted he discarded an iPad from the vehicle because he believed it could be used to track his location.
The danger surrounding delivery work was not limited to Atlanta.
In Miami Gardens, a banana pudding delivery on Aug. 6 ended with one robbery suspect dead and another jailed on a murder charge, WTVJ-TV reported.
A food delivery man had arrived in the 20300 block of Northwest 34th Court when 19-year-old Jabari Thomas and 20-year-old Demetrius Tromain Travis allegedly tried to rob him, an arrest warrant cited by the station said.
Thomas allegedly climbed into the back seat of the victim’s car and put a gun to his head while the suspects tried to access the delivery man’s CashApp.
The delivery driver had his own gun and opened fire.
Travis was shot in the leg, chest and face, then airlifted to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, WTVJ reported.
The delivery man stayed at the scene and was not charged.
Witnesses told police another suspect ran toward a white vehicle. After a “Be On the Lookout” alert, the car was found in Miramar and Thomas was arrested.
Thomas was charged with armed robbery and second-degree felony murder, with WTVJ reporting that Travis’ death was being tied to Thomas because it happened during the alleged robbery.
A Miami-Dade judge ordered Thomas held without bond Wednesday. He could face life in prison if convicted.
In Jacksonville, North Carolina, a DoorDash order ended with a driver suffering a fractured skull after she honked at a car that would not move at a green light.
Christen Phillips, 34, was working around 1:20 a.m. Aug. 1 when she stopped at Western Boulevard and Gum Branch Road, WITN-TV reported.
Phillips told Onslow County deputies that the car ahead of her stayed still after the light changed, so she honked.
The driver moved aside, then followed her, deputies told the station.
After Phillips dropped off food in the Shamrock Drive area, the man she had honked at allegedly attacked her as she walked back to her car, hitting her in the head with a baseball bat.
Phillips got herself to a hospital after the assault. She reportedly suffered severe injuries, including a fractured skull.
Deputies charged Stanley Shockley with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury.
The attack happened six doors from Shockley’s home on Shamrock Drive, where investigators later searched and said they found evidence connecting him to Phillips’ assault, WITN reported.
A prosecutor accused Shockley in court of wiping his Ring camera footage clean. A judge ordered him held without bond.
