Police have found the woman accused of trying to kidnap a baby—who was in the care of his nanny—on a Chelsea sidewalk this week. Tara Anne McDonald, 46, was found in midtown Manhattan and is undergoing psychiatric evaluation.
The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon; police say the nanny was pushing an eight-month-old baby in a stroller on 8th Avenue near 17th Street when McDonald allegedly approached her. According to reports, McDonald was muttering and tried to walk away with the stroller.
UPS driver William Marte was nearby and intervened. He said, "The lady that grabbed the stroller by the handle—she was saying, ‘You’re a liar! These are my babies!’ And I told the lady, ‘Please, just get off of it; just walk away, because apparently, you have some problems.’ Then she walked away."
The police distributed images of McDonald yesterday and one local worker said, "She's a local crazy. I seen her on the corner here a couple of times, not recently but maybe a month ago." The Post reports, "McDonald has a long rap sheet — including seven prior arrests for attempted kidnapping — and served more than a year behind bars in the late 1990s for an attempted snatching, sources said." Charges for this incident are pending.
Marte said he's not a hero, "I consider myself like just another New Yorker, and I did what I'm supposed to do. I did the right thing in the right moment." Also, the baby slept through the whole thing.
