Erie police are investigating after a newborn baby boy was found abandoned overnight in the yard of an east Erie home.<\/p>\n
The baby was discovered around midnight near the front steps and a large bush outside a residence in the 100 block of East 29th Street.<\/p>\n
Initial reports from police indicated that family members heard the baby\u2019s cries and then found him in the bushes. But 14-year-old Jazzalena Romero told Erie News Now that she made the startling discovery when she stepped outside with a blanket to check whether her aunt had arrived home, because she was hoping to sleep in her room in the basement where it was cooler.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as I stood right there, I looked over and saw the baby moving its legs and squirming and getting ready to cry,\u201d Romero said. \u201cI picked him up and brought him inside to my mom, and she called the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police responded to the scene and transported the baby to UPMC Hamot hospital, where he is receiving care.<\/p>\n
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said investigators believe the infant had been born very recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about a child that was born within hours of when they were found,\u201d Chief Lorah said. \u201cThe umbilical cord was still connected, so it was a fresh birth. We\u2019re thankful that the child is safe and receiving care at the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators are now working to determine who left the baby outside and what circumstances led to the abandonment.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s Safe Haven law allows parents or guardians to legally surrender a newborn who is 28 days old or younger without facing criminal prosecution. Babies can be left at hospitals, police stations, or with emergency responders.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have options,\u201d Chief Lorah said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to put a child in that type of danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police chief said it is too early to determine whether any criminal charges could be filed if the child\u2019s parents are identified.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have to have all the facts in front of us before we were able to make any determination on what would happen,\u201d Lorah said.<\/p>\n
Neighbors expressed relief that the baby was found quickly. Janet Roberts, who saw the infant after the neighbors found him, called the child a beautiful boy and said her primary concern is for the child\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think charges should be filed if they find them, because you just never know the situation,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThe baby did get help right away. Everybody makes mistakes. Everything is going to be all right. Our main focus is that little boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police said the child appears healthy, but they expect him to stay under medical care at UPMC Hamot for a few days, before being released to OCY – the Office of Children and Youth.<\/p>\n
Detectives with the Erie Police Major Crimes Division are handling the investigation. They\u2019ll use surveillance video from the neighborhood to try and determine who abandoned the infant, but they\u2019re also encouraging anyone with information to contact Detective Sgt. Brian Barber at the Erie Police Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erie police are investigating after a newborn baby boy was found abandoned overnight in the yard of an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[104599,58134,524,136,138,137,5585,1510,104708,1021,102437,104707],"class_list":["post-244511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-abandoned-baby","tag-child-welfare","tag-community","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-erie-police","tag-family","tag-hospital-care","tag-investigation","tag-newborn","tag-safe-haven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}