NEW YORK (AP) — The mother of a newborn girl who was left with her umbilical cord still at a busy subway station in midtown Manhattan was arrested early Wednesday, city police said.
The 30-year-old Queens woman was taken into custody shortly before 3 a.m. and charged with child abandonment and endangerment. She was expected to appear in court later today on Wednesday.
The baby was left in a hallway at the 34th Street-Penn Station subway stop on Monday during the usually busy morning rush hour. The subway stop connects to the broader Penn Station complex, the nation's busiest rail hub, which is located below the Madison Square Garden arena.
The arrest came after police released images Tuesday of a woman wanted for questioning about what happened to the child in an effort to identify her. The woman was captured in a 2-second video clip from a security camera on a busy city sidewalk. She was carrying what appeared to be wrapped in a bundle and holding it as if someone would hold a baby.
The child was found unattended and wrapped in a blanket, police said. She was taken to a hospital for evaluation and her condition was said to be stable. Police were called to the scene after a report that an unknown person left the baby at the station and left.
It was not immediately clear whether the woman had an attorney who could respond to the allegations. A telephone number for her home was out of service on Wednesday.
A team from the city's Children's Services Administration was “deployed to ensure the continued well-being of the baby,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“I call it the 'Miracle on 34th Street,'” Demetrius Crichlow, president of New York City Transit, told reporters on Monday, referring to the classic Christmas movie.
New York has a 2000 law that allows parents to surrender a newborn baby up to thirty days old at a hospital, staffed police or fire station, without fear of prosecution. The state's Safe Haven law requires the parent to immediately notify an authorized person of the child's location.
Liyan Bao, senior vice president for child welfare at The New York Foundling, one of the city's oldest child welfare organizations, says that 150 years ago, babies were left on the facility's doorstep. But today there is support available for parents in New York, such as a new short-term respite program launched this summer for parents in crisis.
“There are services available,” she said. “And I would really encourage families in need to reach out.”
