CUMMING, Ga.—A Georgia sheriff released dramatic body-cam video June 25 showing the rescue of a newborn girl who was found alive inside a plastic bag in the woods.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office made the video public in hopes that it will generate credible tips in the case.
The video shows deputies tearing open the plastic bag containing the child as she cries. Then, they wrap her in a blanket to keep her warm.
WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: Dramatic bodycam video shows moment officers ripped open plastic bag to find newborn baby girl who had been abandoned on side of road earlier this month https://t.co/uS0YxA2bjj
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) June 25, 2019
Hospital workers decided to call the girl Baby India, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“We are happy to report that Baby India is thriving and is in the care of the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Tuesday accompanying the video.
Officials are asking the public to share any knowledge of a woman in the late stages of pregnancy who may have given birth to the baby.
“We release this footage in hopes to receive credible information on the identity of Baby India and to show how important it is to find closure in this case,” the sheriff’s office said.
Residents of a nearby home were unloading their car after a trip on June 6 when they heard a noise coming from a secluded, wooded strip of land. At first, they thought they were animal sounds.
“[We] grabbed our flashlights and we’re driving around and we’re, like, ‘That doesn’t sound like an animal,'” Kayla Ragatz told WSB.
They went into the woods and followed the sound to a pile of leaves and sticks, and then saw the baby wrapped in a plastic bag.
“You don’t anticipate hearing a baby in the woods,” Sheriff Ron H. Freeman told reporters June 7. “Thank God they went out and investigated.”
“We were all crying.” These three teens — along with their parents — found a newborn abandoned in the woods, wrapped in a plastic bag: https://t.co/P34s6pqHlr NEXT ON CHANNEL 2: @LaurenPozenWSB
has the latest on the search for the mother. pic.twitter.com/4RPUSNYECq— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) June 8, 2019
They called 911, and a baby girl believed to be hours-old was found in a plastic bag, Freeman said. Police and hospital staff involved in the baby’s rescue wanted her to have a name because they felt “like she is one of theirs,” he added. Instead of Baby Jane Doe, a local Forsyth County hospital named her India.
Law enforcement officials has been canvassing the area, checking cameras and asking for the community’s assistance in figuring out how India got there.
If she was left there, the person involved could be charged with offenses such as abandonment and cruelty to children in the first degree.
But authorities are not going to speculate on criminal charges until they know what happened, Freeman said. Their priority is making sure India and the woman who gave birth to her are both safe and in good condition, he said.
The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
