A Nebraska woman gave birth on a sidewalk, then abandoned her newborn baby in freezing cold weather, according to police.
Trinity Shakespeare, 27, was arrested on a charge of felony child abuse after she was released from a hospital following the incident, according to a statement from Omaha police.
Police were called to an intersection in southeast Omaha at approximately 10 a.m. on Sunday, February 13th to check on the well-being of a woman who had allegedly given birth to a baby boy and then simply walked off. The woman, who was later identified as Shakespeare, was found by police behind a house about a block away from the scene.
At the time that she abandoned her newborn baby, the temperature outside was approximately 15 degrees. Witnesses at the scene jumped into action, covering the child to shield him from the cold, according to police.
The baby was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but he is expected to survive. He was exposed to the freezing cold temperatures for at least five minutes, KETV reported.
After consultation with Douglas County prosecutors, Shakespeare was charged with felony child abuse.
Prior to police being called to the scene, an individual with Shakespeare had called 911 at 9:15 a.m. to report that she was having pain. That call was coded as someone with a “maternity problem,” Omaha Fire Battalion Chief Scott Fitzpatrick told the Omaha World-Herald.
Ambulance medics made contact with Shakespeare, who was “adamant that we leave her alone and she did not need any medical help,” Fitzpatrick said.
She was alert at the time and refused to answer any questions. She denied being ill or hurt, and was wearing a baggy winter coat, which made it difficult for medics to determine whether she was in active labor, according to Fitzpatrick.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said that juvenile court prosecutors are expected to seek to deem the newborn baby a ward of the state, as Shakespeare is unfit to care for him because of the abandonment.
She has already lost custody of two other children — a boy born in 2016 and a girl born in 2017 — after she left them with a man in August of 2018, according to reporting by the Omaha World-Herald.
“Here you go,” Shakespeare said to him as she abandoned the children, according to juvenile court filings.
The man, who wasn’t even the children’s father, told police that Shakespeare seemed “buzzed,” and admitted that he was a “drunk” and unable to care for the kids, court records show.
The toddlers were put into emergency protective custody, and Shakespeare was sentenced to 200 days in jail for child abuse by neglect.
Shakespeare’s father told the World-Herald that he spoke to his daughter when she was recovering in the hospital.
“She must have been scared,” Edd Shakespeare told the newspaper.
