In New Jersey, a teenager gave birth and randomly handed her newborn to a stranger with the umbilical cord attached.
In a surveillance video, the teenager can be seen walking into the El Patron restaurant with the infant, and handed the baby to a customer, left and never came back.
The 14-year-old mother walked up to the counter and said that she found the newborn girl.
Restaurant owner Frankie Aguilar told ABC7 that the teen gave the baby to a good Samaritan and walked away.
Alease Scott and her boyfriend Walter Cocca were eating lunch at El Patron when the teen asked for help.
Without second thoughts, Scott accepted the infant.
“I said do you mind if I check the baby’s vitals, she readily handed the baby over to me so my focus went right onto the baby,” Scott said.
The teen mother walked out of the restaurant leaving Scott with the newborn girl with the umbilical cord attached. She and her boyfriend could tell that the baby girl was having trouble breathing so they called in the police for help.
The officers quickly responded with medical gear and oxygen.
Luckily, Scott is professionally trained in first aid and CPR.
“Once I applied the oxygen mask to the baby, all of a sudden we heard the most beautiful cry and the baby started moving, she slightly opened up her eyes and then she closed her eyes but the sweetest thing was when she got hungry and she was trying to suckle on the oxygen mask so we knew she was OK after that,” Scott said.
The police later found the unnamed teen mother thru surveillance cameras and because she’s underage, she will not face any charges.
Meanwhile, the baby girl will be put up for adoption.
Aguilar said they were happy that the teenage mother decided to go to their restaurant for help.
“And hopefully we as a society become better at just helping one another, especially after COVID,” Aguilar added.
Officials are now taking the chance to remind everyone that New Jersey has a Safe Haven Law that allows parents and guardians to drop off newborns 30 days and younger at hospitals, fire stations, or police stations.
Meanwhile, Scott said she would love to see the baby again and she and her boyfriend would happily be godparents.
“I’m just so happy I was there to help because she just was desperate and didn’t know what to do, she was so young,” Scott said.