Abandoned Calgary baby’s father didn’t realize he found his own son

CALGARY – He didn’t know it at the time, but when a man jumped into a trash bin to help save a crying baby, he was looking at his own son.

The man, who cannot be named, swore in his first interview that he and his girlfriend did not know she was pregnant.

When he left for work Tuesday, she complained she wasn’t well, much like she had been feeling lately.

While at work he decided to check up on her at their home in the 500-block of 40th Avenue N.W.

"I had no reason to want to come home. At around 1:00 I got a bad feeling in my gut and I said I’m going to go home for lunch," he said.

He pulled his truck into its parking spot and was heading inside when just at that time a stranger nearby spoke up.

"A girl said ‘I think I hear a baby in the dumpster.’ With no knowledge at the time that this is my kid whatsoever, I went running over there, stood beside the dumpster, hear the baby cry," he said.

"I jumped in and removed the stuff. I personally opened the bag and uncovered all the stuff off," he said.

"My first sight of my baby was covered in garbage."

The father was taken to police for interviewing and the mom taken to hospital.

It wasn’t until the police interview was over at 9 p.m. that he learned from police he was the baby’s father, he said.

The woman accused of abandoning her newborn boy in a northwest Calgary trash bin told investigators she didn’t realize she was pregnant, police revealed today.

The 29-year-old woman is scheduled to undergo a psychiatric assessment today and is facing charges of attempted murder, failing to provide the necessities of life and child abandonment.

The baby was initially hypothermic and in life-threatening condition, but he’s now in stable condition.

“It was incredibly lucky the passersby responded to the cries of the baby,” said Staff Sgt. Leah Barber of the child abuse unit.

“I truly believe they saved his life.”

Authorities estimated the boy was born between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. – approximately two hours before the rescuers found him.

Police confirmed today the boy’s mother lives in Queen’s Park Village, the same townhouse complex where passersby found the infant inside a bag thrown into a metal trash bin.

An ambulance took the woman to hospital an hour after the baby was found in the bin, and she remains there today.

“Information suggests the woman was not aware of the pregnancy prior to the birth,” Barber said.

The boy’s father, likewise, didn’t know the woman was pregnant until authorities told him. He was not present during the birth.

Barber described the man’s reaction as “shock, I think.”

The woman hasn’t been charged, and authorities will likely withhold her name to protect the baby’s identity. While her baby was being rescued, she was still at home and unaware what was happening elsewhere in her townhome complex.

James Patton was walking his dog through the complex when a man — who turned out to be the baby’s father — and woman told him they heard a baby’s cries coming from inside the bin.

“A girl said she heard something, he tore open a garbage bag,” Patton said.

They found a naked baby boy with his umbilical cord still attached.

“I ripped off my shirt,” said Patton. “I kept the baby warm.”

The group called 911 and a police cruiser patrolling nearby arrived within two or three minutes.

The resident who lives closest to the bin said she didn’t hear anything unusual when she was outside an hour before others found the baby.

“I just thank God for the girl that can hear better than me,” Sheila Pierzchala said.

Pierzchala lives close enough to the bin that she said she often tosses her trash into it from her front steps.

“I’m just thankful I didn’t throw my garbage on top of a baby who was right below,” Pierzchala said, adding she was just happy the baby was still alive.

She had not noticed any pregnant women living nearby.

“I think it’s so sad. It’s so sad for whoever had to do this, that they were in a situation that they felt they had to do it.”