James McGonagle arraigned after tried NYC kidnapping

The person who allegedly snatched a 5-year-old boy off a Queens sidewalk — solely to have the kid’s quick-thinking mother seize him again final week — made his first look in courtroom on Friday.

James McGonagle, 24, was remanded into custody following his arraignment in Queens Supreme Court docket on a two-count indictment charging him with tried kidnapping and little one endangerment, prosecutors mentioned.

McGonagle, of Contemporary Meadows, faces as much as fifteen years in jail if convicted.

Disturbing surveillance video of the July 17 incident allegedly confirmed McGonagle sprinting out of a parked automotive and grabbing little Jacob Diaz, who was strolling along with his mother and siblings in Richmond Hill.

McGonagle then allegedly shoved the boy into the backseat of the automobile — prompting mother Dolores Diaz Lopez to leap into motion.

The heroic mother desperately tried to free her son, as McGonagle allegedly “clutched the kid’s legs from the alternative facet of the automotive and tried to tug him again into the automobile,” the Queens District Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement.

Diaz Lopez, 45, was capable of free her from the automotive earlier than the creep sped away.

A male passenger seen within the video — whom police sources beforehand advised The Put up is McGonagle’s 55 year-old father, additionally named James McGonagle, — was apparently  unaware of his son’s intentions.

Moments earlier than the terrifying incident, the passenger could possibly be heard asking “What are you doing?” to which McGonagle allegedly responded “We’re taking the child,” prosecutors mentioned.

McGonagle was arrested the next morning at Brookdale Hospital after police noticed him being handled for accidents to his face, the DA’s workplace mentioned.

Queens District Lawyer Melinda Katz known as the incident “a mum or dad’s worst worry,” and praised Diaz Lopez for her braveness.

“In a brazen trend, the defendant grabbed the little boy, who was only a few steps from his mom, and allegedly tried to kidnap him,” Katz mentioned in an announcement.

“This can be a mum or dad’s worst worry. This mom fought to avoid wasting her son. By no means underestimate the power of a mother. Fortunately he has been apprehended and can face justice.”

McGonagle is due again in courtroom on Sept. 8.