Karol Sanchez, teen kidnapped off Bronx street, found safe

The 16-year-old girl who appeared to have been abducted from a Bronx street in front of her horrified mother has been found — after walking up to a police car at the intersection where she vanished, cops and witnesses said Tuesday.

Police — who had characterized the disappearance as a kidnapping — are now questioning Karol Sanchez to sort out what really happened, according to cops.

A “trembling” Sanchez approached a police car near Eagle Avenue and East 156th Street in Melrose around 2:15 p.m., and was escorted into the vehicle by cops, said two witnesses — who were looking at a missing poster for the teen when they saw her return.

“We were looking at the picture saying, ‘I hope she’s OK,’ and she walked right up,” said Akash Singh, 29. “She was trembling while she was walking. She just looked really scared. She put her hands on her knees and she started talking to the cops. They jumped out of the car and put her in.”

Added witness Zani Koxha, “I can’t believe it. I’m totally shocked. She was trembling and she looked like she was in deep shock.”

Sanchez was walking with her 36-year-old mom near the same intersection around 11:20 p.m. Monday when two men hopped out of a beige sedan, grabbed the teen and forced her into the car, harrowing surveillance video shows.

The mom tried to fight off the men, but was shoved to the ground as the car peeled off, police said.

Investigators have not immediately released a motive for the apparent abduction — which prompted an Amber Alert — but the NYPD’s 40th Precinct confirmed in a tweet that Karol had been found.

Police sources said the teen’s mom was planning to relocate them back to her native Honduras over Karol’s objections, and that investigators were exploring whether that played into the disappearance.

Sanchez was speaking with police at the 40th Precinct stationhouse Tuesday afternoon to sort out whether the incident was a kidnapping at all, cops said.