Family describes seeing car stolen with their baby inside
Elijah (left) and Korral Atkinson after thieves stole their car with ther baby inside
By KCRA Staff
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PLACER COUNTY, California (KCRA) — Two women were arrested Thursday morning after a stolen car with a 7-month-old inside crashed into a power pole in Placer County, according to the sheriff’s office.
“It’s a parent’s living nightmare to watch a car with your child in it drive away from you,” said Elijah Atkinson the baby’s father.
Dispatchers got a call around 7:20 a.m. about a car stolen from a daycare center on Live Oak Lane with the child still inside, the sheriff’s office said. The vehicle was stolen from a couple that had stepped away briefly to walk their other child inside the daycare.
“It probably happened within less than a minute,” said the child’s mother Korral Atkinson. “Even though you feel like you’re in a safe environment, days like this make it seem like it’s not the same world anymore. So… just be more aware.”
That is when the suspects, later identified as 23-year-old Anastacia Andino of Folsom and 29-year-old Roniqua Wartson of Elk Grove, took the car and drove off.
A deputy in the area spotted the vehicle traveling westbound on Interstate 180 near Auburn and tried pulling them over, the sheriff’s office said. That is when the vehicle sped off, made its way onto Highway 193 before eventually crashing into a power pole in the Newcastle area. Andino was injured in the crash and was detained almost immediately. Wartson, the driver, fled into a wooded area before also being detained about 30 minutes later.
The sheriff’s office said the baby was not hurt in the crash and was quickly returned to the parents.
“We’re just thankful he’s with us,” Korral Atkinson said. “Something way worse could have happened today, and it didn’t, so we’re very thankful for that.”
It is unknown what Andino and Wartson were doing near the daycare at the time.
Both are in jail facing several charges including kidnapping and car theft.
Bail for each is set at $250,000.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call 530-889-7855.
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