14-year-old leaves her newborn baby with customer at New Jersey restaurant
A 14-year-old girl had just given birth before she walked into a New Jersey restaurant and handed her baby to a customer.
Alease Scott said she was eating lunch on Wednesday when the teen approached her and asked her to check on a newborn.
“I noticed that she had some blood on her leg, so I kind of figured out that was her mom,” Scott said in a Facebook live video posted by her boyfriend, Walter Cocca. “But my main focus was on the baby. Once I looked down and started checking out to see if the baby was OK, the mom was out. She left.”
Luckily, Scott had CPR training and experience working at a preschool, according to WNBC. She reportedly jumped into action to help the child, who still had part of her umbilical cord attached, and asked someone to call 911.
“I’m so happy that it wasn’t somebody else, that that baby was in good hands,” Scott said on Facebook.
The events unfolded at El Patron, a Mexican restaurant in Jersey City, across the water from New York. Surveillance video shared with news outlets shows the teen walking up to the counter Wednesday afternoon.
“This lady comes in looking very desperate, holding a brand newborn child, you can even tell,” owner Frankie Aguilar told WNBC. “She comes in, she looks at me in the eye, I look at her and she has these eyes of terror and despair.”
The 14-year-old was gone by the time first responders arrived and gave the baby an oxygen mask, according to a Facebook Live video Cocca filmed inside the restaurant.
Officials later tracked down the teen, who reportedly won’t face charges. Both she and her daughter were taken to the hospital and are doing well, according to WABC and WNBC.
The baby will go into foster care or be adopted, The Jersey Journal reported.
In New Jersey, a Safe Haven law allows people to anonymously surrender newborn babies at hospitals, first aid centers and police or fire stations without risking arrest or prosecution.
Scott, El Patron and a Jersey City spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment on Friday.
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