Car with baby inside stolen from Hadera hospital; suspect arrested, infant returned

A man drove off in a car with a baby inside at a hospital in the north of the country on Monday, leaving the distraught mother crying out for help.

Security guards outside the emergency room at the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera were able to swiftly apprehend the vehicle and return the baby to its mother unharmed.

The hospital said in a statement that a patient, “apparently in a psychiatric state, who escaped the emergency room, got into a car that had just arrived at the emergency room.”

Security personnel “responded immediately and professionally” to detain the suspect and reported the matter to police, the hospital said.

Police said that the hospital alerted them of suspicions that a car was stolen with a baby inside. Officers arrived at the location and arrested the suspect. Police were to decide later on extending his remand.

An unsourced Ynet report said that the mother had left the car with the engine running while she went to collect something from the hospital, but when she returned, the car was gone.

She began crying out for help, and security guards located the car in the area.