CHICAGO _ The teen parents of a newborn brought to a fire house this week have been charged with attempted murder, and the grandmother of the baby has been charged with falsely claiming she found him abandoned in an alley near the fire house.
Karla L. Antimo, 37, told firefighters she heard the boy screaming and found him on top of a trash can in an alley around the corner from the fire station at 1747 N. Pulaski Road late Tuesday afternoon.
But police say she actually had been contacted by her 17-year-old son after the baby's mother, a 16-year-old girl, gave birth to the boy in her home in the 3500 block of North Pulaski Road, wrapped the newborn in a towel and placed him on top of a garbage can in the alley behind the house.
The 17-year-old, the baby's father, went to the alley and placed the baby inside a bag and called Antimo, according to police.
Around 1 p.m., the mother entered Community First Medical Center, about 2 { miles west of her home, and said she had a miscarriage, sources said. About three to four hours later, Antimo went to the fire station carrying the bag with the baby and told firefighters she had found him nearby.
The baby was not moving, and the crew immediately began working on him while an ambulance was called, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. By the time the baby was taken to Norwegian American Hospital, he could not breathe on his own, Langford said.
Doctors and nurses worked on him for more than half an hour as a crowd gathered around his bed in the emergency room, praying and calling out to the little boy. Finally his vital signs improved and he was transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition. Officials said a feeding tube has been removed, but doctors are worried he may have suffered brain damage because he was without oxygen for an extended time.
The baby is in state custody and will be eventually be placed in a foster home. For now, he has been given the name Patrick Casey Doe: Patrick for a paramedic who helped treat the baby and Casey for a police officer who cleared traffic for the ambulance to Norwegian American Hospital.
Antimo, 37, of the 1700 block of North Karlov Avenue, was charged with felony counts of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report.
The parents of the baby were each charged with attempted first-degree murder. They are both due in Juvenile Court Friday.
Antimo was scheduled to appear in bond court at the Criminal Courthouse Friday.
