Coralie Carlson

Dad Falls Asleep, Leaves Baby Girl in Subway Station: Police

What to Know

  • A 6-month-old baby girl was found abandoned in a subway station in the Upper East Side, police say
  • Her father told police he was taking her home when he fell asleep
  • He has been charged with abandoning a child, among other charges

A 6-month-old baby was found abandoned in her stroller early Sunday at an Upper East Side subway station, police said.

The baby girl was found at the subway station at 86th Street and Lexington Avenue at 4:30 a.m., the NYPD said.

Around the same time, police got a call from 26-year-old Josh Perez, a Bronx man who had just woken up on a train and realized his baby was missing.

By that time, others had already called 911 and the girl was taken to Cornell Medical Center in stable condition.

Police said the girl had been with her parents and Perez was going to take her home. But he fell asleep and when he woke up, the baby wasn't there. It's unclear how the stroller made it from his train to the 86th Street platform. 

Perez was charged with abandonment of a child, acting in a manner injurious to a child, and reckless endangerment.

“It sounds like a complicated situation, but you can’t fall asleep when you’ve got a little child there,” straphanger Louise Dye said. “When you’re a parent, you’re never off duty.”

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