Newborn tossed out of car window
(CNN) -- A newborn baby boy who was tossed from a moving vehicle Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is in remarkably good shape, authorities say.
First hospitalized in critical condition, the Broward Sheriff's Office said the baby is continuing to improve and was in serious condition late Thursday.
A woman who brought the baby to police told the Broward Sheriff's Office that she was driving about 2:30 p.m. in a residential area in northern Fort Lauderdale when she saw a man and a woman who appeared to be in their late teens or early 20s arguing in a car. The car slowed to about 5 miles an hour and a bundle flew out of the window and landed about three feet away on grass by the road, she said.
She saw movement and stopped, expecting to find puppies or kittens. Instead, she found a tiny baby boy.
"The baby had a plastic bag over its head," said Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne, "a plastic bag like from a food store ... wrapped around the head of the baby." He said the umbilical cord was still attached.
The baby was flown via helicopter to Broward Medical Center in critical condition but "was later upgraded to serious and continues to improve" in the hospital's neonatal care unit, according to a statement from the Broward Sheriff's Office.
Police spokeswoman Cheryl Stopnick said the newborn baby boy weighs 8 pounds, 2 ounces.
"We are asking the mother to come in and talk with us. ... We'd like to have a thorough discussion with the mother and father," Jenne said.
Authorities have released a description of the couple in the car and are asking for the public's help in finding them.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office: "Just prior to the newborn being tossed out of the car, the female witness observed the black male driver with an Afro hairstyle and white female passenger with braids arguing." They were in an older model white car, perhaps a Ford Crown Victoria.
While lamenting that a parent would do such a thing to an infant, Jenne said, "The good news is that we have a human being ... someone in this community who has the heart and soul to pick up a baby and save it."
