A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of kidnapping a 6-year-old boy on a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus, authorities said. [Updated 2:50 p.m.: The child was a girl.]
A homeless woman boarded a bus with her son about 4 a.m. near downtown and fell asleep, Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Parker said. When she woke up, the child was gone, he said.
The woman alerted the driver, who notified the MTA dispatch center and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Transit Services Bureau.
Several passengers were believed to have been on the bus at the time, Parker said.
When authorities put out a bulletin about the incident, a driver on another route called in saying that he had two people matching the description of the man and child on his bus.
Sheriff’s deputies intercepted the bus and arrested the man about 6 a.m., Parker said. The child was returned to his mother. [Updated 2:53 p.m.: The girl was taken into protective custody, not returned to her mother.]
— Andrew Blankstein