NEW HAVEN, Conn — A woman is in custody after police say a baby was abandoned in a dumpster. The eight-month-old child was found alive with burns on her hands.
The infant child was taken to Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital to be cared for. New Haven Police say she is in stable condition. They have not determined how the baby's injuries occurred.
"Me having four kids, it really hurt me," said Andrew Ward.
Ward lives in the Presidential Gardens apartment complex on Dixwell Avenue just a few feet from the dumpster where the baby was found. A maintenance worker found the child around 2 pm Monday.
"I said what? A Newborn baby? What are you crazy? It just startled me," said Ward. "There are other things. It’s not the 90s when there wasn’t that many avenues. There are many ways they can go."
Police have taken a 24-year-old Hamden woman into custody who they say put the child there. She is not the child’s mother. Police say they have located the mother of the child and have been in constant contact with her.
"You never know," said Xavier Miller. "People are different. People have their own personal experiences that they’re going through, so I don’t know what this person is going through when she did this."
The charges against the Hamden woman are pending. She will be arraigned on Tuesday. Neighbors couldn't help but think how things could have been different.
"If you see somebody that needs help, help them. If you see somebody that struggling help them. We all need help and this person needed help and somebody missed it," said Miller.