2-month-old OK after teen steals car, leaves her behind dumpster, police say

A teenager is accused of stealing a car Friday with a 2-month-old baby inside, according to Clayton County police.

Jonathan Johnson, 17, then crashed the car and ran from officers and deputies before he was captured. But investigators said the baby was no longer in the 2008 Acura. Johnson told officers he had placed the baby behind a dumpster.

“Arresting officers were advised by the male that he had removed the child from the vehicle and placed her behind a dumpster, but he could not recall the location,” Clayton County police said in a media statement.

After searching apartment complexes along Mt. Zion Road, the baby girl was found at the Tara Woods Apartments, police said. She was unharmed and reunited with her mother.

According to the baby’s mother, she had parked her vehicle at Champion Wings and Fish near Jonesboro and left the keys inside and the car running while she went to pick up food, police said. She came outside to see her car being driven away by someone she didn’t know.

After an alert was issued to find the car, Clayton County deputies saw the Acura turn in front of them from Southlake Parkway and Mt. Zion Road made an attempt to initiate a traffic stop, investigators said. But the driver didn’t stop and drove at a high rate of speed, traveling onto a sidewalk and concrete median before crashing near a cemetery.

Johnson was charged with motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, reckless conduct, hit-and-run, cruelty to children, fleeing and eluding, disobeying a traffic control device and reckless conduct, according to police.

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