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Los Angeles police on Wednesday continued their search for the mother of a newborn baby boy found unattended in a stroller on a South L.A. street the previous afternoon.
The newborn still had his umbilical cord attached when he was found at Vermont Avenue and Dana Street at around 1 p.m., Los Angeles Police Department Officer Mike Lopez said.
The baby — believe to be just 1 day old — was discovered in the Adams-Normandie neighborhood of South L.A.
The area is about a half-mile north of the University of Southern California campus, and is close to St. Agnes Church, Vermont Avenue Elementary School and a Ralphs grocery store.
The infant was transported to California Hospital Medical Center and his condition had improved from “stable” to “good” by Wednesday.
Police have described the child as either white or Hispanic. Investigators are still searching for his mother, whose identity continues to be a mystery.
“We are asking the public’s help to identify the mother — to make sure the mom is safe and why the baby was left here,” LAPD Southwest Division Capt. Sean Parker said on Tuesday.
“But the most important thing … is that the baby is safe,” he said.
A passerby first spotted the baby about 10:30 p.m. Monday and then saw the infant again just before 1 p.m. the following day, according to Parker. It appeared that the baby had been there all night.
The man who said he found the newborn identified himself as Alex Diaz, and told KTLA he spotted the “dirty” stroller Monday night and, unaware an infant was inside, simply thought that it had been discarded.
Then, on Tuesday, he walked by with his two children and noticed that a blanket inside the stroller was comparatively clean. He decided to check and discovered the baby boy inside, wearing brand new pajamas but covered in sweat.
“You took your time to dress him up, but you couldn’t take your time to take him somewhere safe,” Diaz said. “You just left him out on the street — threw him out like trash. Can’t do that to a baby.”
The baby’s stroller was located across from St. Agnes Church, which offers social services, according to the Rev. David Matz.
“It’s saddening … to think, here they are, this close to a church that has social services, and all they had to do was ring the bell,” Matz said.
State law allows anyone with lawful custody of a newborn to safely surrender the child at a fire station or hospital within 72 hours of the baby’s birth.
