A newborn girl was found with her umbilical cord still attached at Penn Station subway station in Midtown Manhattan in New York City on the morning of Monday, October 20.
The New York Police Department said the baby was found on a staircase leading to the train platform at West 34th Street and Seventh Avenue during the city’s rush hour, just before 9:30 a.m., according to ABC News.
Authorities discovered the infant after an anonymous tip was reported that she was near the southbound No. 1, 2, and 3 trains, and NYPD and fire personnel quickly responded.
NYPD added that the baby was conscious and alert as she was taken to the hospital, and she was admitted in stable condition, per the outlet. Meanwhile, Fox 5 reported that the baby still had her umbilical cord attached when she was found.
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“The baby is in a stable condition and remains at Bellevue Hospital. The investigation is ongoing as officers look for video footage,” the NYPD told Fox News Digital.
Once the baby was safe at the hospital, investigators began reviewing surveillance footage from Penn Station in hopes of identifying who abandoned the newborn.
Queens resident Assa Diawara was arrested around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, October 22, and charged with abandoning and endangering a child, according to NBC News and ABC News.
Police were able to identify Diawara, 30, after they released footage on Tuesday, October 21 of the alleged suspect. The clip showed the woman holding a bundle wrapped in a white cloth as she walked down the sidewalk near Seventh Avenue and 34th Street in Midtown, which is not far from the subway station where the baby was left. She wore pink pants, a red headscarf and glasses in the video.
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Detectives used the footage to follow Diawara to Jamaica, Queens. ABC News reported that one of her neighbors confirmed to authorities that it was her in the video. Diawara later confessed that she left her daughter, though her motive is not currently known.
New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow reflected on the incident while speaking to reporters.
“I’m calling it the miracle on 34th Street, maybe just a little earlier,” he said, per ABC News. “Just grateful for the work of the NYPD for responding and caring for the baby.”
