A newborn baby found buried alive in California on Friday was cold to the touch and crying, and the deputy who helped save her decided to do what he does with his own children: he rocked her gently until she stopped crying.
The unidentified girl was found in a riverbed covered with pieces of asphalt and debris, and according to officials, she was only 36- to 48-hours-old upon her discovery.
Deputy Adam Collette of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was one of two officials who helped to retrieve the abandoned girl and said he was shocked by what he saw.
“Even when I heard the baby cry and we came to the hole in the ground – I know what I was hearing… a faint baby cry and as I’m digging the hole – I still didn’t believe it,” Collette told KCAL9 News.
Collette himself is a father of two.
“For a baby to feel cold and alone and dark for so long, I think just any kind of sunshine, anybody holding the baby was just going to be [good] for the baby,” Collette added.
The L.A. County sheriff’s department believes the little girl was born in a hospital within the area since she was found wrapped in a hospital-issued blanket.
Now, police are looking for the mother.
“It’s hard to believe that someone doesn’t have a friend or a family member, or someone to confide in. They get pregnant in secret, they hide the secret and then they want to throw away the secret,” L.A. County department supervisor Don Knabe said to KCAL9.
Knabe is also the one who started the “Safe Surrender program” where a parent, or parents, can give up their child(s) within 72 hours of birth at any Los Angeles hospital or fire station, no questions asked.
“No shame, no blame, no name,” Knabe said in a press conference about the investigation.
According to KCAL9, 16 babies have safely been surrendered this year.
And now, the photo of Collette cradling the unknown girl will arguably be another one.
The newborn is back in hospital and expected to be OK.
The investigation is ongoing.
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