'I threw baby from bridge' says estranged US father

The man, who snatched his daughter from the arms of her grandmother while the child’s mother was obtaining a restraining order against him, told police he threw the baby off a bridge and into a New Jersey river.

Boats, dogs and helicopters scoured the area beneath the Garden State Parkway’s Driscoll Bridge in Central New Jersey for any signs of three-month-old Zara Malani-lin Abdur. Authorities say the girl’s father, 21-year-old Shamsiddi Abdur-Raheem, forced his way into the grandmother’s apartment, hitting her in the face, choking her, and forcibly taking the baby, wrapped in a blanket.

The 60-year-old grandmother, chased Abdur-Raheem but was struck when she tried to stop him by throwing herself in the path of his van. She was treated at a local hospital and released.

Abdur-Raheem was arrested four hours later.