Mom suspected of abandoning baby on New York subway platform: police

[July 08, 2014]  (Reuters) - A mother accused of abandoning her baby by pushing its stroller onto the platform in a New York City subway station before hopping on a departing train was in custody on Tuesday, police said.

The 20-year-old woman is suspected of leaving the 10-month-old child when a train arrived at the Columbus Circle train station on Monday, police said. City officials were looking after the child, who appeared to be unharmed.

"She was on the train," said New York City Police Department spokesman Christopher Pisano. "She exited and left the stroller on the platform and then got back onto the train."

The woman was taken into custody just after midnight local time in the area of 72nd Street and Broadway in Manhattan, Pisano said. No charges had yet been filed.

A "good Samaritan," who saw the baby left behind, watched over it and called the police, Pisano said. Another person notified the police after recognizing the suspect at street level from a surveillance video police had released.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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