Ronkonkoma man tries to steal running car with 2 kids inside in Brentwood, police say

Two young children were nearly carried off in their father’s car Tuesday afternoon when a man climbed into the running vehicle outside a Brentwood smoke shop and tried to drive away with them inside, Suffolk Police said.

The kids, ages 5 and 6, were sitting in a 2025 Volkswagen idling outside Bougatfa Zero smoke shop at 656 Suffolk Ave. when 23-year-old Mustafa Attia of Ronkonkoma jumped in the driver’s seat about 4:45 p.m., police said. Their father had stepped inside the store just seconds earlier.

The dad saw Attia enter the vehicle and sprinted back to the car, said police, who a added that a store employee ran to the vehicle with the father. The two men tried to physically drag Attia out, but he refused to leave, cops said.

Multiple bystanders called 911, and when police arrived, Attia was still behind the wheel. Officers pulled him out and placed him under arrest.

Attia was charged with attempted grand larceny, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance. He was taken to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore for evaluation and will be arraigned at Suffolk First District Court in Central Islip at a later date, according to authorities.

_{Top: 656 Suffolk Ave. in Brentwood (Google Maps Street View)}