teen tosses baby into grass

Canada
February 6, 2007 2:47pm CST
Teen faces rap in fatal newborn toss BY TANYANIKA SAMUELS and ROBERT F. MOORE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS A 14-year-old Brooklyn girl who went to a hospital with stomach pains yesterday revealed that she had given birth hours earlier and tossed the baby from a third-floor window, a police source said. Cops found the infant boy dead behind a home on Ralph Ave. in Weeksville and were awaiting autopsy results on the body. "If the baby was born alive, it could be a homicide," a police source said. "But if he was stillborn, the girl could be charged with [illegally] disposing of the body." The teen mother was being questioned at the 77th Precinct stationhouse. A police source said the girl gave birth about 4:30 a.m. and tossed the baby in a backyard filled with weeds and debris. Hours later, she complained of abdominal pain, and her mother took her to Interfaith Medical Center. A doctor examined her and then started asking questions. "Where's the baby?" the physician asked, according to the police source. The crying teen told him, and cops were alerted. Police found the body where she said they would - behind her home just two doors down from a church. "She should have sought help," said Lorna Bynoe, 66, a deacon at the nearby Nazareth Christian Fellowship Church. "We could have helped her or called child services. I'm sorry to hear about this. It's very sad." Under the state's safe haven law, unwanted infants can legally be left at hospitals, police stations, churches or firehouses. A neighbor who asked not to be named said the girl was afraid of her mother and had been hiding the pregnancy. "I'm a mother of six," said another neighbor, Maria Baptiste. "It's painful to hear. She could have taken the baby anywhere. Anyone would be happy to have a baby." Originally published on February 4, 2007 What the heck is the world coming to?
1 response
• United States
6 Feb 07
This is so sad. I find it disgusting that we still live in a society where mothers are throwing away and abandoning their children. We need more resources and a better way to get the knowledge of these resources to pregnant women and mothers, especially young ones! These girls don't know what they can do, they don't know that churches and police stations can help. They feel helpless and hopeless and don't know that there are so many programs available to help them and/or their child - whether they chose to keep the child or put it up for adoption. As a society we NEED to do more to prevent these things from happening!!