JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A surveillance video recorded Wednesday shows a teen girl hand a newborn child to a complete stranger inside a New Jersey restaurant, then leave the establishment.
El Patron’s Frankie Aguilar said he knew something was wrong when he saw the teen Wednesday afternoon.
“This lady comes in looking very desperate, holding a brand-newborn child. You can even tell,” Agular told WNBC. “She comes in, she looks at me in the eye, I look at her and she had these eyes of terror and despair.”
“The baby wasn’t really moving that much. (The mother) went to the counter. She said she needed help. I got up from the table. I immediately walked over to her and I said, ‘You mind if I check the baby’s vitals?,’” Alease Scott told WNBC.
Scott, a former therapist and preschool teacher, was a customer who knew something was wrong.
“So she readily handed the baby over to me. I noticed the baby still had the matter on it from being born, in the hair and the ears. It wasn’t cleaned off very properly,” Scott said.
She realized that the young girl, who was 14, was the baby’s mother and in trouble herself.
“I looked down and saw that there was dried blood on her leg and I immediately said, ‘Oh my God, this is the baby’s mom,’” Scott said. “But I was more focused on making sure the baby was breathing, so as soon as I looked down at the baby she was gone.”
Aguilar said the baby’s umbilical cord was also still attached, NJ.com reported.
“I administered oxygen to the baby, within a couple of seconds of her getting oxygen we got the most beautiful cry that you’ve ever heard. Her little feet started moving,” Scott told WNBC.
Scott had been trained in using CPR, WABC reported.
“The sweetest thing was when she got hungry and she was trying to suckle on the oxygen mask, so we knew she was OK after that,” Scott told WABC.
Aguilar said the girl had told him that the baby was abandoned, but he said he knew the truth, WNBC reported.
Aguilar’s father called 911 and police arrived shortly after. Police took the baby to a hospital, where the infant is now doing fine. They also found the girl, who police said was 14, and took her to a hospital where she is recovering from her child’s birth, WNBC reported.
New Jersey does have a Safe Haven Infant Protection law that allows a person to legally give an infant under the age of 30 days to people working at an emergency room, police stations, fire stations, or rescue squads, NJ.com reported. The person leaving the child can be either a parent or someone acting on the parents’ behalf, and it can be done anonymously.
The baby is expected to be placed in a foster or pre-adoptive home, NJ.com reported.
The teen is not facing any charges, WABC reported.
Cox Media Group
