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Teens Find Newborn in Queens Dumpster
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 18, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 18, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Given how cold it is, this story is amazing: A teen who had been skateboarding with friends in Elmhurst last night heard some crying and found a a newborn baby girl wrapped in a blanket, inside a brown paper bag, at the top of a dumpster. The temperature was below freezing.
Christopher Moncada said his brother Brian found the baby and when they opened the bag, "The baby was facing down. It looked like it was suffocating. I turned it over and its arms started to move...We just helped out the baby, because it's bad to see a baby die, you know." The Post reports that the boys left the infant with their friends and then headed to the 110th Precinct for help.
The 4-pound baby was slightly hypothermic, but she is now in stable condition at Elmhurst Hospital. Doctors think she was a few hours old and had been in dumpster for 30 minutes; they aren't sure if she wold have survived much longer. Medic Giovanni Caballero told the Post, "It's a Christmas miracle. Thank God for these kids walking by at the right time."
NY State does have a safe haven law, where babies may be abandoned at police stations, fire houses, and hospitals - with no questions asked - but there has been some question as to how effective the law is.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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