BOSTON – It was a sound that stopped Silvana Sanchez in her tracks; the cries of a baby coming from a trash can.
“I didn’t look. I was too scared to look inside the trash can,” Sanchez said.
After discovering the crying, she called out to some EMTs who happened to nearby.
“They grabbed the bag, put it on the ground. They cut it open and they said, ‘It’s a baby,’” she said. “It’s just kind of like, by luck that EMT was there and he came over.”
Within moments, the baby was rushed to the hospital.
“I think it’s a sad situation. I feel bad for the girl, I feel back for the baby,” Pat Newell said. He owns the pizza shop near where the child was abandoned.
“For someone to do something like that, she must’ve been in a tough position. I hope she get the help she needs,” he said.
Renee Marcou is a spokesperson for Baby Safe Haven. She said they haven’t seen an abandonment like this in about eight years.
“This is a story that we don’t really often hear,” she said.
Since 2004, the Safe Haven Act of Massachusetts allows a parent to legally surrender newborn infants, seven days old or younger, at any hospital, police station or manned fire stations without fear of facing criminal prosecution.
“It’s just tragic to hear,” Marcou said. “And I think it’s really important for everybody to know that this law is out there and there are people who want to help.”
For Sanchez, she hopes the mother gets the help she needs and realizes how lucky she is.