Bayside Child Falsely Said That A Man Tried To Kidnap Her: Cops

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — A 10-year-old girl made up a story that someone in Bayside tried to abduct her on Thursday, according to the NYPD, causing confusion and alarm among local community members.

At around 1:30 p.m. on May 13 the police called a level one mobilization to search for a man who had allegedly tried to abduct a child at 28-16 203rd Street, reported the NYPD. A police spokesperson told Patch on Friday that the child herself had issued the report.

The report, which said that the man was driving a van emblazoned with the phrase “Air.com,” was quickly picked up by the Citizen app, and posted on neighborhood Facebook groups, causing concern and alarm from locals who saw NYPD-dispatched helicopters and cars in the area.

“Downright terrifying!” commented one person on a post about the alleged abduction in a Bayside Facebook group, which attracted over 60 comments and was shared by more than a dozen people.

But, as the police determined that the child was safe and continued to search for the supposed suspect, confusion in the group began to grow.

One speculated that the man failed to abduct the child, whose parents had then called the police. Another said that a neighbor, who lived nearby to where the abduction was initially reported, told them that the suspect was already caught. Others said they were reading conflicting messages in different groups.

Ultimately, about an hour later according to a timeline on Citizen, the police determined that the initial report was false.

“She just made it up,” NYPD Detective Sophia Mason told Patch. “When we questioned her nothing added up, and she told us that she wasn’t telling the truth,” she said.

According to the detective, the 10-year-old child, who is now safe, was somewhere “she wasn’t supposed to be” and fabricated the story of the abduction.

When asked by Patch how often false reports of abduction are made, the detective said “we don’t keep stats on that, it’s not something that we track.”