Worker Finds Baby Next to Tractor Tire

Construction worker Elias Ortiz arrived at a Palmdale work site Thursday morning and discovered a newborn infant--naked, cold, covered with blood and dirt but alive--on the ground by his tractor.

The baby boy was in good condition at Palmdale Hospital Medical Center Thursday, said Sgt. Ron Shreves of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The infant was about seven hours old when Ortiz found him in the vacant lot about 7 a.m., wrapped him in a jacket and with co-worker Rafael Godinez tended him until paramedics arrived, Shreves said.

The boy was described as 19 inches long, weighing nearly 5 pounds and of indeterminate race. His umbilical cord was still attached. He was unclothed, and his body temperature had fallen to 78 degrees.

Otherwise Healthy

But the infant was otherwise healthy and had been transferred from the emergency room to the pediatric ward by afternoon, Shreves said. Hospital officials refused to comment on the baby’s condition.

Ortiz said he noticed the infant because he was checking his tractor for flat tires.

“I saw something moving next to the tire, I thought it was a dog or something; you don’t expect a baby,� Ortiz said. “It’s hard to see how people can treat their own flesh like that, throw away their child like an animal.�

The infant’s mother apparently gave birth at or near the lot at Avenue Q-14 and 17th Street East where the construction vehicles were parked, then abandoned the infant next to the tractor, sheriff’s officials said. A trail of blood led from the lot for about a block to the 38000 block of 17th Street East, leading investigators to believe that the mother had walked away from the scene. Investigators were checking the neighborhood Thursday for information.

Mother Sought

The mother is sought in what investigators are treating as a case of felony child endangerment, Shreves said. He urged the mother or anyone else who may know about the incident to contact authorities.

The boy, who is in protective custody of county Department of Children’s Services, will be placed in a foster home if no one claims him, officials said.

At the construction site, Ortiz and Godinez said they were glad to hear the baby was alive.

“There were rocks and dirt and blood all over his face, he was making a little noise kind of like he was in pain,� Godinez said.

The two men, who both have young children of their own, grimaced as they speculated in Spanish and English about the worst that could have happened.

“I probably would have run him over,� Ortiz said. “It was lucky.�