PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Phoenix Police released dramatic body camera footage of the rescue of a newborn.
Police said that on May 14, neighbors called to request a welfare check because packages were piling up outside, and they reported not having seen the woman for several days.
“Officers looked through an open window and saw an adult woman who was motionless,” said Phoenix Police spokesperson Sgt. Brian Bower.
Police broke through the apartment door, inside they found a baby wrapped in a blanket, right by the mother’s body.
“The mother had passed away while the child was still on the bed still curled up where the mother had left them,” Sgt. Bower said.
Neighbors at the apartment complex near Central Avenue and Illini Street said a couple of them were worried when the woman wasn’t seen for days.
“It wasn’t learned until well after the fact from doctors and staff at the hospital that if the police officers didn’t immediately provide aide and didn’t immediately go into the apartment, the child may not have survived much longer,” Sgt. Bower said.
Sgt. Bower praised the actions of everyone who stepped up.
“It’s because of the smart, immediate actions of the officers as well as the neighbors seeing something unusual and calling in for help,” he said.
Bower said the Department of Child Safety is involved to ensure the baby’s safety.
Police are still investigating the mother’s cause of death.
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