The NYPD said a baby girl was abandoned on Sunday morning outside of a home in Longwood.
Surveillance video shows a person in a hooded jacket carrying a bag along Reverend James Polite Avenue.
The video captured the person stopping in front of several homes on the block, before that person walked back to one of the properties, then left empty handed.
That homeowner, Mamadou Hafiz Jallow, said he got a phone call from a neighbor, who had already called 911.
“He said, ‘There’s a baby at your door, at the entrance of your house,’" Jallow said. “I said [to my neighbor], ‘A baby?'”
Jallow told News 12 that he found the infant on his doorstep. The child was alive and naked, wrapped in blankets, which were placed inside of a green plastic shopping bag.
“The baby was shaking [her] hand, blinking the eyes,”Jallow recounted. “Then I put the baby inside and I called 911 again.”
He said the infant may only be a few days old.
Police said the child was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.
“It’s something that I’ve never seen, something that never happened to me,” Jallow said. “But it certainly happened to other people.”
Under New York State’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act, a parent may surrender their unwanted baby up to 30 days without being charged -- if the child is dropped off safely, like at a hospital, police or fire station.
“If the mother didn’t want the child, or whatever circumstances it was, you would think they would either give it to the opposite side of the family or do better like giving it to the police of something,” said Donnell Warden, one of Jallow’s other neighbors.
Warden told News 12 that he’s a father of four, including a 1-year-old.
“For me, [abandoning a baby] is very shocking,” Warden said.
As of Sunday night, police said no arrests had been made.
