Newborn Baby Abandoned in Pickup Truck

A Sherman Oaks man who was about to drive to work Wednesday found a newborn baby abandoned in the back of his pickup truck, Los Angeles police said.

The brown-eyed baby boy, believed to be less than a day old, was in good condition and was turned over to the county Department of Children’s Services while detectives sought his parents, police said.

Lt. Dennis Dunn said the parents, if they can be located, could be charged with endangerment and abandonment.

The baby, who has brown hair and weighs six pounds, was found wrapped in a pillowcase in the back of the pickup parked in the 5000 block of Greenbush Avenue about 6:30 a.m., police said.

Police declined to name the 45-year-old owner of the truck, who spotted the child as he approached the vehicle to drive to work. He covered the infant with towels and called authorities, police said.

It was unknown how long the child had been in the back of the pickup. The infant was taken to Valley Medical Center, where he was found to be in good condition and released to Children’s Services, Dunn said.

The incident was similar to a Sept. 21 abandonment of a newborn in North Hollywood. In that case, a man found a 2-hour-old baby boy in the back of his car, parked at the intersection of Weddington Street and Blakeslee Avenue. That child’s parents have not been identified.