A newborn baby boy with the umbilical cord still attached has been found unattended in a pram on a street corner in Los Angeles.
The pram, believed to be no more than one day old, was spotted during the evening by a local resident in the south of the city at around 10:30pm on Monday evening but he assumed it was empty and abandoned.
But when Alex Diaz walked past the pram with his two sons the next day he took a closer look and rang the police once he found the baby.
He told local news channel ABC7 Los Angeles: "When I got up close to the stroller and the blanket was clean, it was just like, 'Oh, I hope nobody did this, I hope I'm not about to find a baby in here,' and sure enough that's what happened.
"It was burning hot. He was sweating. His pyjamas were soaked in sweat. It was horrible. I don't know how somebody can do something like that, not even animals do that."
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The boy was then rushed to hospital by paramedics where he is believed to be in a good condition.
He was left just across the street from St Agnes Catholic Church.
The church’s priest, Father David Matz, said: “What saddens me about the whole situation, [is] that the child was left across the street under a mattress in a stroller, and they could've easily just rang the doorbell and left the child there."
Detectives are now appealing for any witnesses who may have seen the baby being left and are searching for his mother.
Under a Los Angeles County law called “Safe Surrender”, a parent or guardian can give up an infant in a hospital or a fire station if the child is no older than three days and shows no signs of abuse or mistreatment.
