After staff at Manhattan’s Victoria’s Secret thought two teenage girls were shoplifting, authorities inspected their bags and found the body of a dead newborn baby in one of their bags. The security guard inspecting the bags reported it to the NYPD.
From a story with more details:
The girls, both 17, were stopped by the store’s loss prevention officer. It was then that one of the girls admitted she had “a baby in the bag,” CBS 2 reported.
The guard called police. The girl later told police that she had given birth on Wednesday and did not know what to do with the fetus.
It was not immediately clear where she gave birth.
One girl was taken to Bellevue Hospital, and the other was being questioned at the Midtown South Precinct, CBS 2 reported. The Medical Examiner’s Office was performing an autopsy on the human remains found inside the bag.
Nearby residents told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez they were stunned by the news.
“It’s sad and it hurts because it’s still a life that was born and now it’s gone,” said Esther Gross of the Upper West Side.
“I have two daughters. The youngest one is 18 and she would probably be terrified. But there’s so many things you could do. Leave it in a church. Go to the hospital and just say I don’t want it, which is not a good thing at all, but it’s better than doing this,” added Ivetzy Sosa of Washington Heights.
New York is one of many states with a safe haven law for people like the teenage to drop off a baby instead of leaving the child to die. Women can leave their baby, up to 30 days old, with any responsible person at a suitable location in New York. A hospital, staffed police or fire station are examples of safe and suitable choices.
New York State’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act allows a parent to abandon a newborn baby up to 30 days of age anonymously and without fear of prosecution — if the baby is abandoned in a safe manner.
A parent is not guilty of a crime if the infant is left with an appropriate person or in a suitable location and the parent promptly notifies an appropriate person of the infant’s location. A hospital, staffed police or fire station are examples of safe and suitable choices.
A person leaving an infant under this law is not required to give his or her name.
