{"id":235345,"date":"2026-05-18T15:02:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/235345\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:02:35","slug":"handcuffed-woman-gives-birth-in-brooklyn-courtroom-advocates-call-for-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/235345\/","title":{"rendered":"Handcuffed woman gives birth in Brooklyn courtroom; advocates call for investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

City public defenders are calling for an investigation into how a handcuffed woman gave birth inside a Brooklyn courtroom<\/a> as she awaited arraignment on low-level drug charges.<\/p>\n

Samantha Randazzo gave birth to a healthy baby boy just before 12 a.m. Saturday inside Brooklyn Criminal Court on Schermerhorn St. in downtown Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe baby came really quickly,\u201d Randazzo\u2019s lawyer, Wynton Sharpe, told the Daily News. \u201cIt was a happy and sad situation given the circumstances. It definitely changed the whole energy of the courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randazzo was sitting on a bench in the courtroom, awaiting to be arraigned, when her water broke. The judge immediately cleared the courtroom while the court officers rushed to help Randazzo, according to Sharpe.<\/p>\n

Several public defenders witnessed the event. A group of NYC public defender organizations issued a statement late Saturday condemning Randazzo\u2019s treatment and demanding an investigation into how she wound up giving birth under the circumstances without adequate medical attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo person should ever be forced to give birth in handcuffs or endure labor while restrained, exposed, and denied basic medical care and human dignity. What occurred in that courtroom was not simply a failure of protocol or preparedness. It was a profound moral failure and a devastating reflection of the cruelty embedded in our carceral system,\u201d the statement from the Legal Aid Society<\/a>, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders<\/a>, and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA child entered the world in a courtroom while their mother was in chains,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

According to the statement legal proceedings continued and courtroom staff could be heard joking about the incident while it happened, adding to Randazzo\u2019s humiliation and dehumanization.<\/p>\n

But Randazzo\u2019s lawyer denied that his client was handcuffed or shackled as she gave birth.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were suggesting she was ankle restrained and handcuffed at the time she gave birth and let\u2019s just say that\u2019s a little bit more colorful than the actual circumstances,\u201d Sharpe said. \u201cThere were no restraints at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randazzo entered the courtroom with her feet free and her hands cuffed behind her back, according to a court official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she was on the bench to be arraigned, she was rear handcuffed but then as soon as her labor started to become apparent, the cuffs were removed,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

Court officers\u2019 \u201cpriority was the health and safety of the mother and child, the public was taken out of the courtroom,\u201d the official added.<\/p>\n

Court Officer Robert Winkler assisted with the delivery and performed chest compressions to help the baby start breathing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody seemed to remember a similar case of a baby being born in a courtroom before. I know they have been born in subways and taxi cabs,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

Police arrested Randazzo around 6 p.m. on Thursday, according the NYPD, more than 24 hours before she gave birth in the courtroom. She and another woman were caught with a small amount of heroin and cocaine on the roof of Nostrand Houses, the NYCHA development where Randazzo lives in Sheepshead Bay, police said. It wasn\u2019t immediately disclosed what type of drugs were recovered.<\/p>\n

Both women were charged with trespass and possession of a criminal substance, cops said.<\/p>\n

Randazzo was wearing \u201cbaggy clothes,\u201d and did not tell police officers she was pregnant when she was first taken into custody, according to a statement from the NYPD.<\/p>\n

At around 3:30 a.m. Friday, she told police that she was pregnant and going through withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Randazzo was taken to South Brooklyn Health and was discharged at 8:09 p.m. Friday. She was then taken to Brooklyn Central Booking, where she gave birth about four hours later, according to a timeline provided by police.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I spoke to her in the back, she appeared to not be doing too well,\u201d Randazzo\u2019s lawyer, Sharpe confirmed. \u201cI noted she wasn\u2019t feeling too well and I was like come on we are going to get you out of here as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, before that could happen, Randazzo went into labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team of uniformed UCS officers acted with swift professionalism to ensure the safety and sanctity of life for all individuals in court on Friday, personifying the everyday virtues of their sworn service,\u201d said Al Baker, spokesperson for the state Office of Court Administration, which oversees state court officers. \u201cWe are delighted both mother and baby are well.\u201d<\/p>\n

An ambulance picked up Randazzo shortly after she gave birth and took her and the baby to the Brooklyn Hospital Center.<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn DA has dismissed the case against Randazzo, a spokesman confirmed.<\/p>\n

Randazzo has several previous arrests, including for burglary, domestic violence, grand larceny and drug possession, according to a police source. She had an open warrant for failing to show up for her scheduled court appearance in at least one of those cases \u2014 which is why cops took her into custody instead of issuing a desk appearance ticket, the source said.<\/p>\n

In 2018, a Bronx woman went into labor in a holding cell in the courthouse and was brought to the hospital handcuffed and shackled<\/a>. Public outcry prompted the NYPD to update its rules for handling pregnant prisoners, although New York State law already prohibited shackling pregnant prisoners during labor and delivery at that time.<\/p>\n

The woman in that case went on to win a $610,000 settlement<\/a> from the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City public defenders are calling for an investigation into how a handcuffed woman gave birth inside a Brooklyn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":["post-235345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}