A newborn baby was found abandoned in front of a Chelsea building early Thursday morning, FDNY sources tell NBC New York.
A team of paramedics was finishing their shift around 3:15 a.m. when a building doorman knocked on their vehicle's window to alert them to a newborn child in front of 515 West 23rd Street, across from an Emergency Medical Services station near The High Line, according to sources.
The paramedics took the baby into the EMS station for evaluation before the child was taken to a nearby hospital for care. Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said the child is doing OK and "is going to survive."
The newborn still had its umbilical cord attached, according to the NYPD.
Ronald Robertson, who said he sleeps under the High Line, told NBC New York he heard the baby crying and tried to wave down the ambulance, which is when the doorman came out. He told the doorman about the baby, and the doorman then knocked on the ambulance window.
"I couldn’t believe it, I thought I was seeing things," Robertson said.
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An EMS dispatcher could be heard on the radio at 3:12 a.m. saying, "one of my units just found a newborn baby out on the sidewalk…the baby’s breathing at this time."
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"When we saw it we snapped into action and the training they give us everyday," said paramedic Patrick Feimer.
Feimer's partner, Mia Chen, said she "was just so happy the child was alive and well."
The EMTs and Robertson are being hailed as heroes for their work to get the child help. Chin was coming off a double shift when this happened.
"I wasn't going to sit there and let a baby die, I have three kids of my own," Robertson said
The mother, identified as 37-year-old Ayatta Swann, was arrested and charged with child abandonment, police said. An investigation is ongoing.
The state of New York has a safe haven law, or the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, where are a parent can abandon "a newborn baby up to 30 days of age anonymously and without fear of prosecution -- if the baby is abandoned in a safe manner." In the case of the law, the parent must abandon the baby in a safe location, such as a hospital, staffed police station, or staffed fire station, provided they also notify an "appropriate person," according to the Office of Children and Family Services.
More information on New York's Abandoned Infant Protection Act is available by calling 1-866-505-SAFE (7233).
