Newborn Found in Box on Steps of Clinic

Few employees arriving for work Monday at the Arcadia Medical Clinic even noticed the old cardboard box on the back steps. But Joan McQuarie, a technician at the clinic on South Baldwin Avenue, thought there was something odd about the powder-blue blanket sticking out.

“It looked very unusual sitting there, so I started to lift the blanket out and felt something heavy. Then I saw hair, and eyes--and there it was,” said McQuarie, 46. “I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s a baby!’ ”

The 7-pound, 12-ounce newborn boy was wearing a diaper and was wrapped in a towel. Police say they have no idea who left him.

“It was obviously somebody who seemed like they were trying to give him some help,” said Police Sgt. Louise Brandsma. “He was left at a medical facility, not a gas station.”

The infant, who doctors say was only a few hours old, was placed in an incubator at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, where he was in good condition.

He appeared to have been cleaned up after birth and his umbilical cord had been tied with fishing line, police said.

Officers are working with the county Department of Public Social Services to try to identify the mother. Meanwhile, he will be placed in a foster home, police said.

“It could have been worse,” said Brandsma. “The box easily could have been thrown in the trash.”