Newborn Survives With 'Grace of God' After Mother Tried Flushing Him Down McDonald's Toilet
A newborn baby boy doctors initially thought wouldn't live after his mother tried flushing him down a toilet at a McDonald's in Redwood City, California, is now recovering at a hospital with "the grace of God" while his mother has been charged with attempted murder.
"It's a real sad story. It's a real sad story," San Mateo County Dist. Atty. Steve Wagstaffe told SFGate about what the mother did. "She said she didn't know she was pregnant."
Wagstaffe said the boy's mother, Sarah Lockner, 25, was working as a cashier at the McDonald's restaurant on Sept. 4 when she complained of stomach pain, according to The Los Angeles Times.
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She then visited a bathroom at the restaurant several times during her night shift that caused a co-worker to become concerned. When the concerned co-worker entered the bathroom to check on Lockner, however, blood was observed on the floor which the cashier blamed on a heavy period.
When a second colleague visited the bathroom they peered over Lockner's stall and "saw a newborn baby face down in a toilet bowl." Lockner also reportedly had her hand on the newborn's back and the colleague reported hearing the toilet flush.
"There was a newborn baby boy in the toilet water," Wagstaffe told KTVU. "She had her hand on the baby boy's back pushing it into the water in an effort to kill it."
The cashier begged her colleague not to call the police but that didn't happen. Wagstaffe told the Los Angeles Times that when police arrived at the restaurant they found Lockner with the newborn in her arms.
The boy had no pulse and wasn't breathing. Officers performed CPR and rushed the boy to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto.
Along with the attempted murder charge, Lockner was also charged with felony child abuse and inflicting great bodily injury.
"We were told chances of survival were not strong," said Wagstaffe. "Somehow with the grace of God people there were able to help the baby and the baby boy is now conscious and it looks like he will survive."
According to The Daily Journal, when the newborn arrived at the hospital doctors worried that he would die and had to put him in a medically induced coma. The child has since been taken off life support and should survive with appropriate medical care.
Wagstaffe told KTVU the crime against the child was heartless and soulless and the boy only survived by the grace of God.
"We were told chances of survival were not strong," said Wagstaffe. "Somehow with the grace of God people there were able to help the baby and the baby boy is now conscious and it looks like he will survive."
He added: "It's hard enough to have a baby in a stall at a McDonald's but then want to end his life. It's something nobody can understand."
It is still unclear if the child suffered any brain damage.
According to KTVU, Lockner lived with her boyfriend and appears to have another child. Her boyfriend who authorities are now searching for told the DA's office he did not know she was pregnant.
Her neighbors are also in shock.
"I had no issues with her," said neighbor Nathan Naidu. "I see her all the time with her kid. She's always walking around with her baby going around to the park. She's pretty nice."
"I still can't believe it," another neighbor, Miguel Contreras, said. "I don't think she did that. She's always with the baby walking around, playing around, playing with my daughters."
Lockner is being held on $11 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in San Mateo County court on Sept. 18.
