A 14-year-old girl reportedly entered a restaurant with a just-born baby who still had the umbilical cord attached and gave the infant to a customer. According to a restaurant worker, the girl then fled.
The entire incident at the El Patron restaurant was captured on surveillance video. The 14-year-old mother walked up to the counter and claimed she found the infant girl.
Restaurant owner Frankie Aguilar said the teen handed the baby to a good Samaritan and ran away.
Alease Scott and her boyfriend Walter Cocca were eating lunch when the teen asked for help.
Scott didn’t hesitate.
“I said, ‘Do you mind if I check the baby’s vitals?’ She readily handed the baby over to me so my focus went right onto the baby,” Scott said.
The teen mother walked out leaving Scott with the newborn girl who still had a portion of the umbilical cord attached. Scott and her boyfriend could tell the baby was having trouble breathing.
Police were called and quickly responded with medical gear and oxygen.
Fortunately, Scott is trained in CPR and first aid.
“Once I applied the oxygen mask to the baby, all of a sudden we heard the most beautiful cry and the baby started moving, she slightly opened up her eyes and then she closed her eyes but 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 said.
When police officers found the teenager, she denied having given birth to the baby. She was also hospitalized and she and the child were healthy.
The baby will reportedly be put up for adoption. Meanwhile, the teen is not expected to face criminal charges.
New Jersey’s Safe Haven laws allow a parent to leave a baby who is less than 30 years old at any hospital, police or fire station or rescue center without questions asked. The children are then moved to foster or pre-adoptive homes.
“I’m just so happy I was there to help because she just was desperate and didn’t know what to do, she was so young,” Scott said.
References: metro.co.uk, abc7chicago.com
