In separate incidents, two abandoned newborns were discovered in Houston over the weekend. According to FOX 26 Houston, a baby boy was found near a dumpster in southwest Houston yesterday, with the Houston Police Department responding after reports from residents at 6023 Dashwood Street about crying sounds. Child Protective Services has been notified about the case, which is under investigation.
Another newborn girl was found in northwest Harris County on Saturday morning, as KHOU 11 News reported. The child remains hospitalized, and authorities are on the lookout for a man captured by surveillance video who is believed to be connected to the abandonment. Described as Hispanic or white, with a slim build and fair complexion, the man had black hair and was last seen wearing a black shirt, and possibly, gray pants.
Witnesses who discovered the baby girl recall a man placing something on the ground before running away from the Plantation Lakes walking trail. Within minutes a couple with their daughter and dogs found the child. In a statement obtained by KHOU 11 News, Sgt. Juan Garcia of the Harris County Sheriff's Office's Child Abuse Unit elucidated,"The baby was a newborn ... still had, you know, fresh placenta on the baby, so it was freshly born this morning."
This string of incidents prompted authorities to remind the public that abandonment should never be an option and that safe surrender laws allow a person to leave a newborn at a fire station or hospital without facing legal repercussions. Bearing witness to the scenes, one local resident, Brittany Barnes, expressed her distress and sympathy, "Somebody must’ve really been going through something to have left their child there," she told reporters.
