A newborn was found dead in a duffel bag outside a Chicago fire station over the weekend, authorities say.
The Chicago Fire Department said crews found a dead newborn in a snow-covered duffel around 5 a.m. Saturday outside one of its maintenance facilities designated as a safe haven, according to the Chicago-Sun Times. The facility is not continuously manned because its crew is often servicing other firehouses.
“They were in and out so much that morning that no one heard the doorbell,” Larry Langford, spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, said of the crew.
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It was not immediately clear how long the newborn was outside or whether he or she was alive when dropped off at the station, which had a “safe haven” sign affixed to a side door, the outlet reported.
Under Illinois’s Safe Haven Law, infants 30 days old or younger can be given to a staff member at a safe haven location with no questions asked.
But because the baby was not handed to a staffer, the person who dropped off the baby failed to make proper contact, Langford said.
“We’re trying to make it clear that you have to make contact. Ringing a bell is not making contact. You have to physically see someone and hand the child over,” Langford said, according to the outlet.
Illinois’ Safe Haven law is a safe way for parents who make the difficult choice to give up a newborn for adoption. Handing over a newborn to a Firefighter or Paramedic directly at a firehouse can help facilitate the safest outcome. No questions asked and no judgment given.
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) January 15, 2022
Chicago Fire Media wrote a reminder to the public on Saturday saying that “handing over a newborn to a Firefighter or Paramedic directly” can help “facilitate the safest outcome” under the law.
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The cause of the newborn’s death is still pending as of Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office told the Washington Examiner in an email.
