Police released a photo of an unnamed little girl in Sacramento, California, after her mother left her with a stranger in a bizarre case of child abandonment. The mother reportedly abandoned her daughter with a random person after claiming that she was being chased. Police have since released a heartbreaking photo of the toddler, asking the public for help identifying her family.
Police say that after the mom took off without her, the stranger dropped off the girl at a fire station.
The incident happened on Sunday, a press release for the Sacramento Police Department confirmed. According the the report, a resident brought the girl to Sacramento Fire Station 57 after a strange incident left the girl in his possession.
Boston 25 reported that the man who brought the girl, whom police are calling Jane Doe, told them that an unidentified hispanic woman had approached him outside a nearby Walmart and told him someone was chasing her. He took the mother and daughter into his vehicle and drove them around for a bit.
The good deed turned odd when the mom exited the car unexpectedly, leaving her daughter behind.
Authorities said that after the mother fled from the man's car, she jumped into another car with two other unidentified people. It was then that the man decided to take the girl to Sacramento Fire Station 57. The girl, who is estimated as no older than 2, was unharmed when she was brought in and was dropped off at the fire station around midnight, CBS 13 reported.
“When we first brought her in, she was upset. You can tell she was uncomfortable with her surroundings. Lots of crying. Crying for mama. We did the best we could to comfort her,” said Fire Captain Greg Murdock.
He continued that the man seemed worried to have the girl with him. “He seemed concerned with having this child, did not know this child,” Murdock said. “He was trying to do the right thing. Drove to another firehouse, they weren’t there, so he came to us.”
The fire chief said firefighters at the station immediately fell into "daddy mode," taking care of the girl until she was taken into state custody.
“They went into daddy mode. Took care of the child — all pretty upset — held it together for the sake of the child,” Murdock explained.
Though California has safe surrender laws — which allow newborns to be safely surrendered within 72 hours of birth, no questions asked — it does not extend toward children. That is why the fire department decided to involve police.
In the latest update of the case, police said they have found the girl's mother.
In an update to the initial press release, the Sacramento Police Department wrote that it is in contact with a woman who claims to be Jane Doe's mother, though they are working on confirming that relationship. They have yet to release details on why the mother left her daughter in the stranger's car or to confirm if she was actually being chased before she got in his vehicle.