Newborn baby spotted on CCTV carried by woman moments before being left abandoned
Police have released images of a woman last seen carrying a newborn baby who was later abandoned at the 34th Street-Penn Station stop in Midtown Manhattan on Monday morning
A woman was seen walking through New York City with a newborn baby moments before she allegedly abandoned the child in a busy subway station.
Police released surveillance footage showing an unidentified woman heading to the 34th Street-Penn Station stop in Midtown Manhattan. The baby girl was found wrapped in a blanket at the bottom of the staircase in a subway passageway leading to the northbound platform of the No. 1 train at about 9.30am on Monday, according to investigators.
Authorities were alerted to the infant after receiving an anonymous 911 call. The newborn was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where she was reported to be in stable condition and alert.
State officials said the baby's umbilical cord was still attached, The New York Times reported.
The woman in the surveillance footage is wanted for questioning, police said. No arrests have been made.
"I'm calling it the Miracle on 34th Street, the FDNY and police department responded, they found a baby that was unattended," New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said at a press conference. "The baby was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, we don't have any other additional information on top of that, but just grateful for the work of the NYPD for responding and caring for the baby."
Under New York State law, abandoning a child under the age of 14 is a felony. However, the Abandoned Infant Protection Act allows a parent to avoid prosecution if they leave a newborn in a safe place, such as a hospital, police or fire station. Parents are not legally required to identify themselves if the baby is younger than 30 days old.
Instances of babies being left in the city subway system are rare. In July 2014, Frankea Dabbs, a 20-year-old homeless woman, was charged with abandoning her 11-month-old daughter at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. She told police she felt overwhelmed after the child's father was killed by intruders. Tragically, less than two years later, Dabbs' body was found floating in the Mississippi River.
In August 2000, a man found a newborn boy on the floor of the subway station at 14th Street and Eighth Avenue. In a heart-warming turn, the baby - nicknamed “baby Ace” because he was found on the A/C/E train lines - was later adopted by the man, Danny Stewart, and his husband, Peter Mercurio.