Newborn baby found in West Covina Subway bathroom toilet, mother in custody
WEST COVINA (CNS / FOX 11) - A newborn baby boy was discovered in the toilet at a fast food restaurant in West Covina, but he was reported to be alive on Monday.
Paramedics rushed the newborn to an area hospital, said West Covina Police Spokesman Rudy Lopez.
He said a woman went into the bathroom of a Subway sandwich shop at 2540 S. Azusa Ave. and gave birth Monday morning.
The woman left the eatery and left a trail a blood behind her, drawing attention to the bathroom, Lopez said.
"Employees went inside and saw an umbilical cord hanging out of the toilet, then they found the baby in the toilet,'' he said.
The baby was submerged in toilet water and crying, Lopez said -- and the placenta in the trash.
Police were informed of the discovery at 8:34 a.m., Lopez said.
The boy was cared for by Subway employees and patrons with help from 911 dispatchers until paramedics arrived, he said.
The mother, identified as Mary Grace Trinidad, 38, left behind a trail of blood which officers used to track her down to a Pep Boys Auto Parts & Service store in the same shopping center, Lopez said.
She was taken into custody and hospitalized like any new mother would be immediately after giving birth, but will be arrested after she is released, he said.
The baby remains hospitalized in critical condition, Lopez said.
Trinidad will be booked on suspicion of attempted murder and child abandonment. She was also wanted for an unrelated narcotics offense, Lopez said.
Trinidad used to live in West Covina, but was a transient at the time of her arrest.
She was identified by shopping center employees as a homeless woman who'd been hanging around there for about a year, no doubt unaware about the "safe haven law " that allows mothers to drop off a newborn baby at a fire station or hospital, no questions asked.
"Just when you think you've seen it all, you realize you haven't," one police officer said.
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