A woman from New York voluntarily surrendered herself to the police following the release of surveillance video showing her purportedly abandoning her newborn baby girl in a neighborhood in the Bronx.
On December 30th, Delfina Galvez, 26, turned herself in to the New York Police Department. This came after the release of CCTV footage showing her carrying a green tote bag, which allegedly contained her newborn baby girl. The baby was discovered on the morning of December 29th, outside a private home. The resident took her in and she was subsequently brought to the hospital.
At around 6:00 a.m. on the morning the baby was discovered, Mamadou Hafiz Jallow, the resident of the apartment, received a call from a neighbor while he was attending prayer services at a nearby mosque. Without delay, he hurried back home and brought the baby indoors. Jallow, in an interview with WABC, a local ABC affiliate, described finding the baby girl, who was believed to be only a few days old, “perfectly wrapped, in a well-arranged manner” within the tote bag.
He said, “I called 911, it was cold, I put the baby inside, I didn’t want to mess with any evidence, but it was too cold, I had to take the baby from outside,” adding “It’s amazing, I never thought something like this would happen in my life, but you know it’s life.”
In an interview with WPIX, Jallow, a local affiliate of the Nexstar network, revealed that upon reaching the baby, he noticed that she was shaking her right hand and blinking her eyes, but there was no crying or any other noise. It is a relief to know that the baby is expected to be in good condition and is currently under the care of medical professionals at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi.
Jallow’s apartment is situated adjacent to Family Services Network of New York Inc. Care Management & Coordination Program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing family services, as reported by local news outlet Norwood News. In accordance with New York State’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act, it is permissible to surrender newborns under 30 days old at designated safe locations like hospitals, police stations, or firehouses. However, it is essential that someone is notified upon the baby’s arrival.
Galvez, who resides just a few houses away from the location where she purportedly left her infant, voluntarily surrendered herself to the 46th Precinct of the NYPD in the Bronx following the circulation of the video footage. As a consequence, she was apprehended and faced charges of first-degree reckless endangerment, abandonment of a child, and acting in a manner detrimental to a child.
