A Queens woman suspected of being the mom who abandoned her newborn at a Manhattan subway station was arrested and charged Wednesday, police said.
Assa Diawara, 30, allegedly admitted to abandoning her newborn — still with her umbilical cord attached — at the 34th Street-Penn Station stop in Midtown Monday morning, sources told The Post.
Diawara was arrested near her home in Jamaica around 3 a.m. Wednesday and charged with abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of a child.
Assa Diawara allegedly admitted being the mom filmed carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth before the baby was discovered at the subway station. DCPI
The arrest came a day after the NYPD released video of the suspect walking down the sidewalk holding a cloth-wrapped bundle in her arms near the subway station shortly after 9 a.m. Monday.
The baby was left on the ground in a bundle of blankets on the 1 train platform, police said.
Diawara was then picked up by a driver near West 34th Street around 9:22 a.m. — minutes before the abandoned infant was reported to police — and was driven back to Jamaica, sources said.
The baby, who was conscious and alert with her umbilical cord still attached, was taken by police in a cruiser to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
The baby was found during Monday morning’s busy rush-hour commute. Matthew McDermott
Diawara is charged with abandoning a child and endangering the welfare of a child. Matthew McDermott
Diawara was arrested after neighbors confirmed that a resident of one apartment building appeared to be the woman in the NYPD appeal, sources said.
She confessed to birthing the baby girl and leaving it at the train station, police sources said.
Under New York State’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act, parents can legally give up babies under 30 days old anonymously and without prosecution as long as the infant is left with an appropriate person or location like a hospital or a staffed firehouse.