Police have arrested 30-year-old Assa Diawara, who is now facing charges of abandoning a child and endangering the child’s welfare. A newborn baby girl was found abandoned Monday morning inside Penn Station. The infant, wrapped in a blanket, was discovered around 9:30 a.m. on a subway platform near the 34th Street and Seventh Avenue entrance.
Authorities say the baby was found after an anonymous tip informed them. The child still had her umbilical cord attached but was awake and breathing. Paramedics took her to Bellevue Hospital, where she was said to be in stable condition.
Neighbors and fellow commuters are shocked by this incident.
“I don’t know how someone could do that to a little baby, it’s really sad,” commuter Hibah Agha said. “It’s really unsanitary, it’s really unsafe to just leave the poor baby out here. I’m glad someone was able to do something about it.”
“Thank goodness that baby was found well and alive but it’s heartbreaking to know that individual responsible is right here a few houses away from me,” a neighbor named Jonathan said.
Surveillance video from the station shows the woman carrying what appears to be a small bundle around 9 a.m. which is a little bit before the baby was found.
Under New York’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act, parents can legally surrender babies up to 30 days old at hospitals, fire stations, or police precincts—no questions asked. However, leaving a newborn in a public place like a subway station is not protected under that law.
Transit officials called it a miracle that the baby survived.
“I’m calling it the ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ the FDNY and police department responded, they found a baby that was unattended,” Demetrius Crichlow said, MTA New York City Transit President. “The baby was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, we don’t have any other additional information on top of that, but just grateful for the work of the NYPD for responding and caring for the baby.”
Diawara is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
