UPDATE: Suspect Charged After Car Stolen With 1-Year-Old Inside In Maplewood

MAPLEWOOD, NJ —A 1-year-old child was found safe Thursday afternoon after a car was stolen in Maplewood with the toddler asleep in the car seat.

Police charged Jaquan Siggs, 22, of East Orange, with kidnapping, theft, eluding by flight, and endangering the welfare of a child, they said on Thursday night.

They said more charges may be added later.

Police said the incident began around 2:05 p.m. in the CVS parking lot on Valley Street in Maplewood.

The South Orange Police Department received a 911 call saying a woman had been carjacked and her child, 1, was secured in the car seat.

A description of the driver was broadcast to South Orange and Maplewood police.

Moments later, a South Orange Police Officer who was in his police car observed a vehicle matching the description, and saw the driver commit a traffic violation.

The officer activated his lights and sirens and attempted to stop the vehicle.

The vehicle began to flee, police said. The officer pursued the vehicle on several South Orange streets.

Then the driver lost control, police say. They say the fleeing car veered partially off the road and collided with a parked, unoccupied U.S. Postal Service vehicle.

"The driver then rapidly exited the vehicle and began to run away on foot," police said. "Multiple South Orange and Maplewood police officers arrived on scene and conducted a foot pursuit through the yards of residential properties, and successfully apprehended and arrested the driver."

The baby was unharmed in the vehicle. Maplewood police brought the mother to the scene to reunite her with her child. Medical workers evaluated them both and found they were uninjured.

The 22-year-old suspect was taken into the custody of the Maplewood Police Department.

Police gave an update later saying that while the initial 911 call said the mother had been carjacked, the car was actually stolen while the mother was in the store.

"The child was asleep in the vehicle while the driver/mother had entered the store," police said.

The crime came a little over a week after three women were robbed on the streets of Maplewood. Police are investigating.

Get a free 6 a.m. newsletter with news in Maplewood or another New Jersey town, and/or sign up just for timely news alerts: https://patch.com/subscribe