Mother of Abandoned Infant Found

The mother of a baby girl abandoned in a hospital earlier this week was identified Thursday as 18-year-old Bridget Reed, police said. The teen-ager was located after her mother tipped off police, said police spokesman Bill Robinson.

Reed was questioned by police and released, Robinson said.

The child, a healthy 8- to 9-month-old infant named Jazmine, was found in the waiting room of the children’s ward at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest on Monday afternoon. She is now living with a foster family.

The baby’s grandmother called police Thursday morning after seeing media accounts of the search for the infant’s parents, Robinson said.

The grandmother, whose name was not released, told police that her teen-age daughter and the baby had been living at her North Park home, but had moved out recently.

The mother was located in East San Diego by police Thursday afternoon and admitted leaving the baby at the hospital, according to Robinson.

“She and her mother had a parting of the ways, and Bridget didn’t have a lot of money or immediate foreseeable income, so she made the decision to leave Jazmine at the hospital,” Robinson said. Reed reportedly told police she left the infant there because she felt it was “the safest place she could go.”

Reed was questioned and released without being charged. The case will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for review and possible filing of criminal charges, Robinson said.

The mother apparently acted on her own, and police believe that the father of the child, who was not identified, was not involved.