Charges dropped against mother who left 1-month-old baby on bus in Bethlehem: Officials
BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- The charges against a Lehigh Valley mother accused of leaving her baby on a bus have been dropped, officials said Wednesday.
Police say the woman walked on the bus in Bethlehem on October 26, handed her infant to the driver and then turned around and walked away.
"You never know what she was going through or what's in her head, she might not have no family," said Brian Oliver.
The mother was originally arrested, but during a news conference on Wednesday, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli announced the charges would be dropped. The mother will now undergo a psychiatric evaluation, he said.
According to a criminal complaint, while Bus #12-93 was stopped, the woman approached the bus with her 1-month-old baby boy in hand.
Next, she entered the bus, placed him on the farebox and told the driver to "call the police and that this was her son that she can't take care of."
According to the police report, after the mother left the bus, she walked away in tears. Police later found her just a few hundred yards away at 85 West Broad Street.
Bus riders we spoke with say at least she gave the baby to someone who would get him to safety.
"I think you should take it to the right authority, but in the same respects, taking it to a bus driver they can make sure the baby is taken care of," said Darrell Phillips of Bethlehem.
The Safe Haven Law in Pennsylvania states a baby no older than 28 days must be left at a hospital or with a police officer at a police station.
In this case, the woman didn't do that and she was originally charged with a misdemeanor count of child endangerment.
