A Hartford man is facing charges that include kidnapping after he tried to steal a car with a child inside on Saturday morning, according to police.
Officers say they were called to McDonald's on Albany Avenue around 8:20 a.m. for reports of a kidnapping and a stolen vehicle. Investigators later learned that an 11-year-old boy was sitting in a running car while he waited for his father to return from the restaurant when 44-year-old Edward Asberry of Hartford jumped into the driver's seat and drove off.
Once the child realized it wasn't his father driving, police say the child physically assaulted Asberry. Asberry then stopped the car, took a book bag from inside and ran away, officers say.
Witnesses were able to help police with Asberry's identity, description and direction of travel. Officers were then able to arrest him at the intersection of Garden and Mather Streets.
The car was then returned back to the boy's father, police say.
Asberry is now facing kidnapping, larceny and risk of injury to a minor charges.
