'I want his head on a platter': Kentucky mom tells 911 dispatcher of suspect who took her baby in carjacking
A woman's car and baby were taken when she left the vehicle running.
A 911 call captured a Kentucky mother's desperation and anger after a man police said was high on methamphetamine stole her car with her baby in the back seat, setting off 12 minutes of terror for the woman as officers raced to find the infant.
"Please find this bastard! Want his head on a platter!" the panicked mother is heard telling a police dispatcher of the suspect moments after the carjacking unfolded on Monday morning in the Louisville, Kentucky, suburb of Shepherdsville.
"I need my baby," she screamed repeatedly in the 911 recording released by the Shepherdsville Police Department and obtained by ABC affiliate station WHAS-TV in Louisville.
The woman, whom police have not identified, told officers the carjacking occurred when she stopped at a UPS store and briefly went inside, leaving her silver Ford Escape running with her baby strapped in a child seat in the back, according to Shepherdsville police.
The mother said that when she walked out of the store, the suspect was in the driver's seat preparing to take off, police said.
She immediately jumped in front of the SUV, she told the dispatcher, according to the 911 recording.
"I was unlocking my phone while I tried to get him to stop," she says in the 911 recording. "I got in front of the car and I was like wait, hold on, my car is moving. Right? And so I tried to get in front of it just to get my baby outside and tell him he can have the car, that I didn't want the car, that I just needed my baby."
Police immediately swarmed the area and an all-points-bulletin was issued for the stolen vehicle, officials said.
The mother was able to tell police that the suspect was in his early 20s, was wearing gray clothing and a beanie cap, authorities said.
Shepherdsville police said the vehicle was spotted in neighboring Hillview, erratically weaving through traffic on northbound Interstate 65.
Hillsview Sgt. Kyle McAllister attempted to pull the vehicle over, but the suspect refused to stop, prompting a high-speed chase that hit speeds of nearly 100 miles per hour, according to police.
so I tried to get in front of it just to get my baby outside and tell him he can have the car, that I didn't want the car, that I just needed my baby.
During the pursuit, the suspect lost control of the vehicle and it veered across five lanes of traffic, careened off the roadway, went through a line of trees and came to a stop in a grassy area, Shepherhsville Police Chief Rick McCubbin said at a news conference.
As officers dragged the suspect, Joshua Reynolds, 22, from the car and arrested him, McAllister rushed to the baby, finding her unharmed and still in her child's seat with a pacifier in her mouth, according to footage from the officer's body-camera video that was released to the public.
"How you doing sweetheart?" McAllister is heard on his body-camera video when he found the girl was safe.
Reynolds allegedly told police that he had taken methamphetamine and had been awake for four days when he commandeered the vehicle, according to McCubbin.
"Once he realized that there was a 13-month-old little girl in the car, he absolutely had the ability to pull over and stop and end it, but he did not," McCubbin said.
Reynolds was arrested on charges of kidnapping, auto theft, evading police, reckless driving, wanton endangerment, driving under the influence and driving without a license.
Reynolds, who was on probation for robbery, pleaded not guilty to the charges during his court arraignment on Tuesday. He remained in custody on Thursday at the Bullitt County Detention Center on $10,000 bail.
It was not immediately clear if Reynolds has an attorney.
"It was kind of a scary situation to be in," Sgt. McAllister told reporters of the chase. "You don't want to push him to wreck because of the child, but you can't let him go either."
