Bronx imam finds abandoned baby in bag at his door after video shows person leaving her there
NEW YORK -- A New York City woman is facing charges after police say a newborn baby girl was found abandoned in a bag on a doorstep in the Bronx.
Video shows the woman carrying a green tote bag, which the NYPD said contained the infant, who was wrapped in blankets. She was seen in the Longwood section around 6 a.m. Sunday.
The video shows the woman putting the bag on the sidewalk multiple times before taking it out of frame. She then reappears without it.
Police later identified the woman as the baby's mother, 26-year-old Delfina Galvez, and charged her with reckless endangerment and child abandonment.
Neighbors heard baby crying
Quickly, neighbors heard the baby crying.
"It's crazy. How do you leave a baby like this in the street?" said Fatou Sair.
"My next door neighbor called me. He lives in this house here. He said, 'Jallow there's a baby crying at your door,'" Mamadou Hafiz Jallow told CBS News New York.
Jallow was at his mosque down the street. He rushed back home, then brought the baby inside and called 911.
"When I opened the blanket, I see a little baby, blinking their eyes and shaking their fingers. Very cold," he said.
Jallow doesn't know for sure why someone abandoned a baby outside his home, but he has an idea.
"They know me as an imam. I lead the prayers in this masjid for three years now. That may be the reason, but to be honest with you I don't know," he said.
The baby girl was taken to Jacobi Medical Center and said to be doing well.
New York has safe haven laws
Under New York's safe haven laws, newborn babies can be left at hospitals, police stations and firehouses with no questions asked and no criminal charges will be filed.
But in this case, the person in the video could be charged with abandonment and child endangerment, police said.
"I just hope the baby to be well. That's the most important thing, and then the mother to be forgiven," Jallow said.
