The father had left the infant in the running car while he went inside a eastside Detroit convenience store 
 
 An Amber Alert was issued the morning of May 16, 2016 for 3-month-old Dakota Grimes, who was in her father's car when it was stolen from a party store on Detroit's east side. (Photo: Detroit Police Department) 
 
 A 3-month-old baby was found safe on the front porch of an eastside Detroit home hours after the running car she was in was stolen early this morning from outside a convenience store, setting off a frantic search. 
 
 An Amber Alert had been issued for Dakota Grimes after her 30-year-old father entered the Whittier Mini Mart at 12:54 a.m. on the 16600 block of Harper with his white Chevrolet Impala running outside, Detroit police officer Dan Donakowski said. When he returned, the vehicle was gone. 
 
 Police confirmed at about 8:30 a.m. that the child had been found in her car seat on a porch of a home in the 9100 block of Lakepointe. The child was taken to a hospital and is in stable condition. 
 
 Police Chief James Craig said at a news conference that the baby didn't appear to be suffering from any trauma, but was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Around the time Dakota was found on the porch, it was only 39 degrees outside, according to the National Weather Service. 
 
 "The child was left on a front porch and someone that was doing work at that residence almost stumbled over the child," Craig said. "...This turned out to be a good news story." 
 
 FBI Supervisory Special Agent Michael Glennon told the Free Press his team — which oversees sex trafficking, child abduction and missing children cases across metro Detroit — helped lead the investigation. Glennon said agents remain on scene at the home where Dakota was found. 
 
 Buy Photo Detroit Police Chief James Craig during a news conference May 16, 2016. (Photo: Katrease Stafford, Detroit Free Press) 
 
 "My team is back there right now. They're the ones that ran the investigation," Glennon said. "We come in and augment what the local police department has done." 
 
 Craig said officers arrived on the scene of the abduction shortly after the father called 911 and began to get initial information from him, but "out of frustration," the man left so the officers were only able to gather partial information. That led to a delay in the Amber Alert being issued. The alert was also delayed because the Detroit Police Department's own processes, Craig said. Craig said the father also initially gave police an incorrect license plate. 
 
 "They were in the process of looking at the images from the video," Craig said. "It wasn't until roughly 3 a.m. that he showed up at this precinct and at that point and time, the report was taken. MSP (Michigan State Police) was notified at 4 a.m. but they couldn't put the Amber Alert out because we didn't have it logged into NCIC. So we're right now trying to determine why there was a delay because of our own processes. So we're trying to get to the bottom of that." 
 
 Police are still searching for the vehicle, a white 2006 Chevy Impala with the license plate CPG8598 and heavy damage to the right rear, as well as three suspects. Craig said although the father left the location before finishing the report, he is not considered a suspect at this point. 
 
 "I deduced from his actions, that he's a parent and certainly his child was abducted," Craig said. "He wanted quick, decisive action right then and there and got frustrated and what he shared with me was he wanted to find his child and of course that didn't happen." 
 
 “I will tell you and I explained it just this way to him, I said, 'I'm angry with you. Why would you be out at 1 a.m. with a child?'” Chief James Craig, Detroit Police 
 
 Craig said he shared his disappointment with the father for leaving his child in a running vehicle. 
 
 "I will tell you and I explained it just this way to him, I said, 'I'm angry with you. Why would you be out at 1 a.m. with a child?'" Craig said. "Now I understand he did drop the mother off, but it was not just so much being out at 1 a.m., it was the fact that he left the child in the car with it running. That's a recipe for what? A bad situation." 
 
 Contact Robert Allen @rallenMI or rallen@freepress.com. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1TjjuuE ||||| Dakota Grimes, shortly after she was found. (Photo: Ray Harper / Special to the Detroit News) 
 
 Detroit — A vehicle was recovered and one person held Monday in connection with an early morning abduction of a 3-month-old girl on Detroit’s east side. 
 
 The vehicle was recovered in Harper Woods, said Sgt. Michael Woody of the Detroit Police Department. He said one person was detained; police earlier Monday said they were looking for three suspects. Woody referred questions to the Harper Woods police, who were not immediately available. 
 
 Dakota Grimes was found safe Monday after being abducted when her father’s car was stolen early Monday at a convenience store, police said. 
 
 The girl was found hours later on a porch on the 9100 block of Lakepointe in Detroit, shortly after an Amber Alert was issued, authorities said. 
 
 “There was no evidence of any trauma,” Detroit police Chief James Craig told reporters at the 9th precinct Monday morning. But the girl was taken to a local hospital as a precaution. 
 
 The incident took place at 12:54 a.m. on the 16600 block of Harper. Dakota’s father, 30, left her inside the running car when he went in to McDonnell Drugs, a convenience store, according to the Amber Alert. 
 
 Dakota’s father didn’t report the girl missing until about 3 a.m., nearly two hours after the car was stolen, Craig said. Michigan State Police got involved an hour later. The FBI also helped. 
 
 In a meeting with Dakota’s father at the 9th precinct, Craig said he told the man: “I am angry with you. Why would you leave your daughter in a running car at 1 a.m.?” 
 
 Police are still seeking the white, four-door 2006 Chevy Impala with plate CPG 8598. (Photo: Detroit Police Department) 
 
 No charges were expected and police don’t consider the father a suspect. What was reported earlier as an improper license plate on his white Chevy Impala was just a matter of the man mistakenly giving the wrong number, Craig said. 
 
 While Craig said he was happy to see the girl returned, he added: “It’d be better if she’d been dropped off at a police station.” 
 
 Had Dakota been dropped off at the home to the left or the right of where she was on the 9150 block of Lakepointe, both vacant, it might have taken much longer for anyone to find her, said Gary Zielinski, 65. 
 
 “It’s a miracle they picked the right house,” Zielinski said. 
 
 Instead, Zielinski found her at his friend Ray Harper’s home about 7:15 a.m., an early start to their day as contractors. 
 
 He almost stumbled over the baby, then knocked on one of the windows of Harper’s home. 
 
 “You know there’s a baby on your porch?” Zielinski said. 
 
 When Harper, 41, saw the baby, he said, “the fatherhood instinct kicked in,” an instinct honed by having 18 children, ranging from 3 to 23 years old. 
 
 At first he thought one of his children dropped off one of their children then tapped on the window as a joke. Then he realized he didn’t know the baby. 
 
 Buy Photo Ray Harper, left, and Gary Zielinski watch a television news report on the recovery of 3-month-old Dakota Grimes, in which they played a major part. (Photo: The Detroit News / James David Dickson) 
 
 The two men took her inside. “She was cold,” Zielinski said. “She was taken at 1 a.m., so there’s no telling how long she was out there.” 
 
 Dakota still had her bottle and pacifier. 
 
 Within minutes, Harper’s phone and Zielinski’s went off — Amber Alerts. Then they saw a story about the Amber Alert on the TV news. 
 
 They called 911, and within minutes “(police) came over here like flies,” Zielinski said. After securing the child and questioning the men, they left. The Amber Alert was canceled. 
 
 Watching a TV news report on the case just after 10 a.m, Harper remained protective. 
 
 “There she goes,” Harper said to Zielinski. “That’s our baby.” 
 
 “Now all they’ve got to do is catch the three guys,” Zielinski said. 
 
 Authorities are working to address why there was a delay of several hours between when Dakota was reported missing and when the Amber Alert went out, said Sgt. Sarah Krebs, Amber Alert coordinator for Michigan State Police. 
 
 Krebs attributed the delay to “a procedural problem,” owing to an incomplete police report and a bad license plate number, but said alerts for missing children should be issued immediately. 
 
 jdickson@detroitnews.com 
 
 Detroit News Staff Writer Candice Williams contributed. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/1TjaTrW ||||| DETROIT (WXYZ) - Police say they have found 3-month-old Dakota Grimes safe after she was inside a vehicle that was stolen outside of a party store on Detroit's east side around 1 a.m. 
 
 Dakota was found on the porch of a home with a blanket and bottle in the 9150 block of Lakepointe. 
 
 The homeowner tells 7 Action News he brought the baby inside, confused as to why she was dropped off on his property. After seeing the Amber Alert, he called police. 
 
 The baby has been taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. 
 
 Earlier this morning, police say the child's father pulled up to the store in the 16600 block of Harper and went inside, leaving his car still running and the doors unlocked. 
 
 When the father returned, his white 2006 Chevy Impala was gone and there was no sign of his baby. 
 
 Police say three men stole the vehicle with the baby inside. 
 
 There was an Amber Alert issued for Dakota before she was located. 
 
 Police are still searching for the suspects and stolen vehicle. 
 
 STAY WITH WXYZ.COM FOR UPDATES ON THIS DEVELOPING STORY.
– A Detroit dad is lucky to have his infant back after he made a stop at a convenience store early Monday and left the baby in the car, engine running and doors unlocked, while he ran inside, the Detroit Free Press reports. When he came back out around 1am, his 2006 Chevy Impala was gone, with three men suspected of taking off with it and his daughter, 3-month-old Dakota Grimes. An Amber Alert was put out, and Dakota was found later Monday morning, with a blanket and a bottle, on the porch of a local home, WXYZ reports. A contractor picking up his friend to go to work around 7:15am nearly fell over Dakota as he approached the house's door, per the Detroit News. "You know there's a baby on your porch?" Gary Zielinski said to his friend, Ray Harper, who tells the News that, being the dad of 18 kids himself, his "fatherhood instinct kicked in" and they brought Dakota inside. It was then they saw the Amber Alert and called 911. The search for Dakota was originally held up because her dad gave police the wrong license plate number and ditched the scene "out of frustration," Detroit Police Chief James Craig tells the Free Press. He adds the department's own procedures slowed things down as well and that they're trying to figure out what caused those delays. The dad isn't a suspect, Craig notes, but he says he chastised him for being out so late with the baby and leaving her in the car alone. "That's a recipe for what? A bad situation," Craig says. Dakota didn't appear to be suffering from trauma, but she was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution; the car and suspects still haven't been tracked down. Harper, meanwhile, is glad he and Zielinski were able to help. "There she goes, that's our baby," he said while watching a news report later Monday morning. (A 3-year-old was found safe after a carjacking.)