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Women Save Infant Left Outside In A Bag For Three Days

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Grace Carr Reporter
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After surviving for three days in a plastic bag, an eight-month-old baby girl was saved by two passersby on Tuesday afternoon.

Sisters Kayla and Karen Seals found the infant in a white plastic bag near some bushes in the New York town of Elmira. They called 911 and reported that she was wearing a dirty diaper and had a rash covering her body. After hearing noises, “my sister came out off the porch and went to the side to the backyard of my neighbor’s house with a stick, thinking it was a dog,” Karen Seals told Elmira television station WENY.

“Her legs were just dangling in the bag. Her head was in the bag. Her whole head was covered all the way down,” Kayla Seals added to her sister’s recount. The baby, whose name has not been released, will soon be handed over to social services officials, according to the Associated Press. The sisters told police that they didn’t notice signs of abuse.

After visiting a friend on Saturday, Hoyt left her baby outside in a bag around noon on Saturday the Chemung County District Attorney, Weeden Wetmore said. He noted that Hoyt had no previous criminal record and that her public defender has made no comment since her arrest.

The baby was taken to a local hospital and then transferred to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester where doctors said she was in stable condition. Police put the 17-year-old mom, Harriette Hoyt, in jail on attempted murder charges.

“The good samaritans who found the child brought it inside, tried washing it up and immediately called 911,” Sgt. Will Solt of the Elmira Police Department told WENY news. “They rendered as much first aid as possible until emergency responders could arrive on scene. The child was immediately transferred to a local hospital and is currently in stable condition.”

“It’s very heroic on their part to render aid, immediately get inside, as you would expect any decent human being to do,” Solt added. “Washed up the baby as quickly as they could and did whatever they could until first responders arrived. They are truly heroes in this incident.”

While New York allows parents to leave newborns in safe areas such as a hospital or fire station, Hoyt’s abandonment of her 8-month-old does not qualify under this provision.

Hoyt is being held on $250,000 bail and will head to court on Monday.

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