Passerby Rescues Newborn Girl Abandoned in Neighbor’s Yard

Responding to what he thought was a kitten’s meow, a man walking his dogs found a squirming newborn baby tied inside a plastic grocery bag on a neighbor’s lawn early Tuesday, LAPD officials said.

The full-term baby girl, who was probably born around midnight, still had the umbilical cord attached when she was found about 4 a.m., police said.

She was taken to Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, where she was listed in good condition.

Rampart Division detectives were seeking help in tracking down the baby’s mother or family members. The infant is white or light-skinned Latino.

Ramon Navarro, who daily takes his two dogs out around that time, found the baby at Monroe Street and Kenmore Avenue near eastern Hollywood, police said.

When he realized it was a baby making the sounds, Navarro hopped the 4-foot-high fence surrounding the lawn to pick up the girl, whom he wrapped in his jacket and took to his house a block away. He then called police.

Calling Navarro a “hero,” Rampart Division Capt. Charlie Beck said the baby might not have survived if Navarro had not intervened. The grocery bag had been tied shut and temperatures were in the low 50s, Beck noted.

Detectives investigating the case said the mother could face criminal charges based on the way the newborn was abandoned, said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Don Lehman.

No charges would have been brought if the mother had taken advantage of the “safe haven” rule.

Under a state law implemented in 2001, individuals may drop off babies at hospital emergency rooms without facing prosecution.

In Los Angeles County and a handful of other counties, fire departments are also considered “save havens.”

The baby will be placed in foster care if no family members are located, said Stuart Riskin, spokesman for the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services.