Farjona Akond was reunited with her 7-year-old son, who had vanished from a Jackson Heights restaurant, thanks to a good Samaritan named Christina and cops from the 19th Precinct who recognized him as missing. NYPD
April 22, 2025 By Bill Parry
A non-verbal autistic boy who was reported missing from a Jackson Heights eatery just before noon on Friday was found by a good Samaritan on Manhattan’s Upper East Side a few hours later.
Seven-year-old Ruwaid Karim slipped out of Dera Restaurant, at 72-09 Broadway, when his mother went to wash her hands in the bathroom.
Police from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights began a search for the child who was seen on surveillance footage running towards the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave transit hub, where he got on a Manhattan-bound subway.
The NYPD search was expanded citywide with aviation units looking for the youngster.
A woman identified as Christina saw a boy walking by himself on Lexington Avenue and 60th Street at around 4:30 p.m. and began to follow him. When she saw him walk into traffic at 57th Street she sprang into action, running into traffic and bringing the child safely to the sidewalk.
The good Samaritan was unaware of the NYPD search for the missing child. She called 911, and police from the 19th Precinct recognized him from the images released to social media. He was soon reunited with his sister and mother, Farjana Akond, who were visiting New York City from Texas and staying at a friend’s home on Waltham Street in Jamaica.
“I went to the restroom to wash my hands and just in two minutes I saw he had disappeared,” Akond said during a Saturday morning press conference. “He’s never been out on the street, so I was very worried. He’s never been on a bus or train by himself. I was thinking about all the bad stuff. It was tough.”
Christina joined them at the press conference on Saturday which was organized by the NYPD.
‘There were two different cars going each way that stopped and they were honking their horns,” she said. “And he just kept going, and I was trying to get him but I didn’t want to get hit either, so he was a little more of a hero than I was running into the middle of the street.”
Akond told Christina she was grateful she had seen her son, who was not harmed during his dangerous trek.
“He’s OK,” Akond said. “He feels like he’s a big boy. He’s just OK. Like, there’s nothing to worry about.”
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