INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Someone stole a running car early Friday with a sleeping 5-year-old girl in the back seat, then dropped her off in a random neighborhood with just a piece of paper bearing the address on her mom’s driver’s license.

The girl is safe with her family, but her day care provider, Carla Hinton, shed some light on what she called a “terrifying” day that unfolded right in front of her house.

“She came in and she realized she forgot her day care payment in her car. So she called her son’s phone and had him bring her purse. So the 9-year-old brought in the purse, and when he walked in the porch to come in the door, we heard this ‘Skeee’ and we heard the car skeet off,” said Hinton.

A police report shows the car was stolen around 7:30 a.m. Friday in the 1400 block of Burdsal Parkway, near North Harding Street.

“She started hollering, ‘My baby’s in the car! My baby’s in the car!’” Hinton said.

Hinton said police told her once the man realized the girl was in the backseat, he asked her how far away she lived.

The girl responded, “Far.”

That’s when, according to Hinton, the man dug through the mother’s purse, found her license and wrote down the address on a piece of paper.

“He gave it to the little girl and put her out of the car and told her she could get out and go knock on the door at some house,” said Hinton.

The girl was dropped off in a random neighborhood and people in that area called the police, according to Hinton.

“We were just scared she would land in the wrong hands. We were concerned. The guy who stole the car, yeah, he thinks he did a good thing by letting her out. But he could have actually released her to someone that was a child predator,” said Hinton.

While IMPD said the girl was found safe a short time later, Hinton warns parents to be careful so this doesn’t happen again.

“I try to tell all my day care parents when they come, don’t leave your car running. It doesn’t matter the neighborhood. It could be anywhere. If someone sees the car running with keys in it, they are going to take it,” said Hinton.

Hinton told News 8 the car was found after the thief crashed it into a pole. Police on Friday night could not confirm the car had been located.

IMPD says investigators are still seeking the person involved in the incident. If you know anything, call Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.

News 8 tried to reach out to the mother involved, but our attempts to interview her were unsuccessful.