Good Samaritan helps grandmother chase her stolen SUV with her grandchild inside
GREENPORT, Suffolk County (WABC) -- A grandmother got the shock of her life when a man took off in her vehicle with her grandchild still inside of it on Long Island.
It happened the afternoon of Valentine's Day in Greenport.
The grandmother stopped on Front Street to enter a store and left her sleeping grandchild inside the back of her car.
While inside the store, she noticed her vehicle suddenly began to drive away.
A man who was parked nearby saw the whole thing happen and took the grandmother in his car to chase after the suspect.
"Who knows where he would've went? I open up the passenger door, I says get in we're gonna get the baby," Good Samaritan Bill Gorga said.
Gorga was able to catch up to the stolen Mercedes Benz SUV near Moore's Lane and cut the driver off onto the shoulder.
The grandmother frantically got out of the vehicle and jumped into her stolen SUV in an attempt to rescue her grandchild.
But, that apparently didn't stop the suspect. He continued to drive westbound on Route 25 with the grandmother and her grandchild.
Gorga didn't give up and chased the suspect, cutting him off again near Silvermere Road.
That's where the suspect released the grandmother and child, but continued to drive westbound once they were out of the vehicle.
Police say the suspect sped through Southold Village at close to 70 mph disregarding traffic signals until he hit a guardrail, drove onto the Southold American Legion property, and then came to rest along Route 25.
Responding officers quickly apprehended 55-year-old Paul Ludeman of Holtsville.
Ludeman faces several charges including grand larceny and aggravated DWI with a child in the car.
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