Security Video Shows Woman Walking Into Subway Before Giving Birth In Restroom
WEST COVINA (CBSLA.com) — Police Tuesday released a security video of a woman who gave birth and allegedly abandoned her baby in the restroom of a West Covina sandwich shop.
Mary Grace Trinidad, 37, was arrested Monday after police said she went into the restroom of the Subway at 2540 S. Azusa Avenue and gave birth. Investigators say she left a trail of blood at the fast-food restaurant drawing the employees' attention.
When they went into the restroom, they found a placenta in the trash and an umbilical cord hanging from the toilet. The infant was partially submerged in toilet water and crying, said West Covina Police Spokesman Rudy Lopez.
Employee Evanka Escobedo said she noticed a trail of blood, noise coming from the restroom and heard a baby's cries. "When I saw him coming out of the toilet, it was so painful to see him like that," she said.
The security footage shows Trinidad walking into the restroom at 8:07 a.m. and leaving 10 minutes later.
"She looked like she was in pain, but I wasn't convinced that she was about to give birth because what I see in movies. They scream, you know, do crazy things and yell. But she wasn't really like that," Escobedo recalled.
The surveillance video also shows paramedics walking into Subway restroom and taking the baby boy to Queen of the Valley Hospital, where he was upgraded from critical to good condition.
Trinidad left behind a trail of blood which officers used to track her down at a Pep Boys store in the same shopping center and arrested her soon after her baby was rescued, Lopez said.
The woman was also hospitalized at the same hospital where she remains for continued treatment, according to police.
Her bail will be set at $2 million, according to Lopez. She was also wanted on a $30,000 warrant for drug charges.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said Trinidad could have safely dropped her infant off at any fire station or hospital with no questions asked under the Safely Surrendered Baby Law.
He emphasized that more work needs to be done to spread the word to prevent newborn infant deaths. "Incidents like what occurred in West Covina are a stark reminder to mothers that there is always a better choice for their baby," Knabe said.
According to the Department of Social Services, 685 newborns were surrendered in California between January, 2001 and December, 2014.
