Carjacker Who Stole Car With Kids Inside Arrested At Garden State Plaza

PARAMUS, N.J. — A carjacker stole a car in Paterson with three young children inside Friday morning was arrested at Garden State Plaza Friday morning after police found the vehicle he was in at the mall, police said.

The man jumped into the vehicle on Broadway in Paterson at 8:11 a.m. as the mother got out of the car where her three kids — ages 5, 4, and 2 — were in the back seat, said Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale. The woman hung onto the steering wheel as the man drove off.

A citizen saw the incident and followed the man to 23 Goffle Road in Hawthorne where he took the kids out of the car and drove off, Speziale said.

The Hawthorne Police Department found the children, who were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in an ambulance, the director said. The kids' mother was also taken to St. Joseph's.

The incident was broadcast to all Paterson police officers, neighboring police departments, and throughout the state.

The man left the carjacked vehicle at a 7-Eleven on Goffle Road and stole another vehicle, police said. Police broadcast a description of that vehicle, which Paramus police found in the Garden State Plaza parking lot and arrested the man, Frank Saggese, 43, of East Hanover, Speziale said.

Speziale did not say what charges were filed against Saggese.

Paramus Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg declined to comment.

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