Mother arrested after good samaritans find her baby crawling in the street

The mother has now lost custody of all four of her children.

Photo: Fotolia

There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding a 9-month-old infant who was found by good samaritans lying on her stomach in the middle of the street in upstate New York.

In a video uploaded by a bystander in Utica, a small baby is seen alone, lying in the middle of a road by herself. Bystanders walk by and kneel down to console the baby who is dressed in a bib and a colorful onesie. One person picks the child up and holds her.

Nearing the end of the video, a woman walks up, claiming to be the child’s mother as others look on in contempt. The video cuts out shortly after that moment.

The Utica Police Department says that at around 10:30 pm on March 9, they were made aware of the video which had been posted on Facebook. Police eventually identified the baby’s mother as Ledrika Ford after hours of searching. The 27-year-old has reportedly been arrested and charged with child endangerment.

The Mother’s Explanation

Ford told the police that she secured her infant in the back seat of her vehicle, but when she looked back in the seat some time later, her child was missing.

That’s when she said she returned to the area that she had left and found the 9-month-old in the hands of the good samaritans and onlookers.

The child was later taken to a local hospital to be evaluated. As of March 10, all four of Ford’s children had reportedly been removed from her custody by Child Protective Services, according to the department’s Facebook updates.

The story had apparently went viral locally, with many commenting and thanking the officers for their work in locating the mother, as well as the bystanders who helped the child. And they are not shy about voicing their opinion on the mother’s story either.

“A 9 month old baby cannot exit the vehicle on it’s own, much less get out of a car seat & open the door (additionally w/out the anybody knowing?) I am so glad that poor child did not get run over,” wrote one commenter on a Yahoo story.

“I hope no baby, basically defenseless would ever have to go through what that strong little girl did,” wrote another.

“She doesn’t deserve those babies next time it might end in a death….hope she doesn’t get them back,” said a third.

The police department took to their Facebook page to thank the bystanders for their quick action.

“The Utica Police Department would like to thank the citizens in the video who attended to the child showing their caring and compassionate spirit of the City of Utica,” the cops wrote.

Watch a report and the recorded footage on the local News Channel 2 station:

Source: Good Samaritans Save 9-Month-Old Baby Girl Abandoned in Middle of Street by IJR