A newborn infant in New York City was given a second chance at life after being abandoned outside an apartment building. Bystanders, including a doorman and a crew of EMTs, raced to save him.
Around 3:15 a.m. on Thursday, July 11, a doorman in Manhattan’s Chelsea area strolled outside the front door of the West 23rd Street luxury apartment building where he works when he heard the infant cry, according to ABC7, News 12 New York, and CBS News New York. The nameless infant boy was lying in the street naked and covered in a blanket, his umbilical cord still attached, authorities said, adding that he was aware and attentive.
Ronald Robertson, who told NBC New York he was sleeping under the nearby High Line, claimed he heard the baby sobbing minutes before flagging down the doorman.
“I could not believe it. “I thought I saw things,” Robertson told the site. “I wasn’t going to sit there and let a baby die, I have three kids of my own.”
According to the reports, the doorman ran across the street to tap on the window of an ambulance containing two EMTs, Mia Chin and Patrick Feimer, who were wrapping up their shift at FDNY EMS Station 7.
“It was fresh. “It was a fresh delivery, so it probably happened moments ago,” Chin said of the baby boy at a press briefing.
According to a Facebook post provided by the FDNY, Chin and her partner acted quickly, hurrying to treat the newborn and bringing him inside the station for further medical attention. According to the agency, paramedics Jack Kaddah and Dennison Rougier brought the baby to a local hospital.
“We just fell back on our training,” Chin stated during the news conference, according to CBS News New York. “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 [Hospital].”
“Getting a knock on the window like that, you don’t know what you’re going to walk into,” Feimer explained, according to the station. “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.”
“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 told me.
According to various publications, the mother, 37-year-old Ayatta Swann, was recognized after checking herself into the same hospital where the infant was taken. Swann was charged with child desertion by the New York Police Department, according to News 12 New York and CBS News New York.
During the press conference, New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh mentioned that the state has a haven law that allows babies “up to 30 days of age” to be left in a safe location, such as a hospital or fire station, without providing additional information if they notify an “appropriate person,” according to the Office of Children and Family Services.
“We are very lucky that that doorman was able to alert them and that they were there so we could intervene right away,” Kavanagh told reporters during the news conference, according to PEOPLE. “You can bring [newborns] to the station or the firehouse or police precinct and knock on the door and not be asked any additional questions.”
According to Kavanagh, the infant is doing well and “is going to survive.”