Baby Left Behind After Apparent Scheme To Avoid Paying SEPTA Fare
By Mike DeNardo, Walt Hunter
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- SEPTA police have decided not to charge a mother and grandmother who left their baby behind while apparently scheming to avoid paying a fare on the Market-Frankford Line.
The incident happened on Monday. The 15-year-old mom and her mother are seen on surveillance video pushing a baby carriage toward the El cashier at 60th Street.
SEPTA Transit Police Chief Thomas Nestel said the mom got her daypass punched and then passed it back to grandmom, even though the passes are only supposed to be used by one person.
"The grandmother thinks that the mother is getting the baby," Nestel says. "The mother thinks that the grandmother is getting the baby. They both turn their backs on the child and walk away leaving the child behind."
Nestel says the "frantic" mom and grandmom met up a few minutes later at 56th Street, realizing that neither had the child. They returned to find the baby in the care of SEPTA supervisors.
Nestel says the two were not charged with fare evasion, because they probably learned a more powerful lesson from the incident.
