An abandoned newborn infant that a doorman in New York City discovered on the street early on Thursday morning was partially rescued.
Ayatta Swann, 37, the mother of the child, was later taken into custody by police and accused of leaving her child behind at the Latham Hotel shelter located at 4 East 28th St. in Manhattan.
It all started at a building under the High Line on West 23rd Street in Chelsea, close to 10th Avenue, soon after three in the morning.
Cries emanated from outside the upscale apartment complex where the doorman worked. When he went to investigate, he found the child outside. When the infant was discovered on the sidewalk, naked and all by himself, wrapped in a blanket, his umbilical cord was still attached. According to the police, the child was awake and aware.
The doorman then ran to get assistance from an EMT station across the street. They quickly helped and rushed the infant to Bellevue Hospital. He is doing well.
A local employee claimed to have spoken with the doorman not long after everything occurred.
“He told me, when he came out, he saw a clump of something on the floor, and heard the baby crying,” Cedric Fraser stated. “Young kid. He said, ‘Oh my God, I never seen something like this before.”
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What EMTs observed and done was described
FDNY representatives discussed the event at a press conference in the afternoon. At 3:09 a.m., EMT Mia Chin and her partner, Patrick Feimer, were informed about the abandoned newborn by a man who had approached their ambulance and knocked on the window.
“We just fell back on our training. We relied on what the fire department has taught us time and time again, and we immediately brought the infant to our desk lieutenant and waited for medics to transport the child to Bellevue,” Chin stated.
“When I approached the infant it was crying and cooing and waving, and I was just so happy that the child was alive, was well, didn’t have any obvious injuries,” Chin continued.
Feimer continued that, “Getting a knock on the window like that, you don’t know what you’re going to walk into, so we just ran over and tried to assess the situation and when we saw [the newborn], that’s when you kind of snap into action.”
FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh commended the efforts of the two EMTs, notwithstanding their assertions that they were merely carrying out their duties.
“Are they heroes? Of course,” Kavanagh stated.
The Abandoned Infant Protection Act of New York
Safe haven laws, passed by several states, permit parents to drop off their children in secure sites, like hospitals or manned police or fire stations, without worrying about facing criminal penalties.
The Abandoned Infant Protection Act of New York state permits a parent to discreetly leave a newborn up to 30 days old as long as it is done in a safe manner.
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