A police officer rescued a newborn baby who had been abandoned in a plastic carrier bag, saying he felt ‘honoured’ to do so.
The baby, who has temporarily been named India, was discovered earlier this month in a wooded area in Forsyth County, Georgia, by a family who could hear her cries from their home.
Her umbilical cord was still attached and India was in a healthy condition, leading authorities to believe she had been born just hours before.
Take a look at the incredible moment baby India was rescued below:
According to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, India was discovered on the night of June 6 after a local family called emergency services.
Kyler and Kayla Ragatz were unloading a trailer outside their home when Kyler said she heard what she thought was a cat, ABC News reports.
Kayla told Good Morning America, as per ABC News:
It sounded like a baby, but you never would think that it’s a baby.
The sisters decided to go and investigate the noise along with their parents, taking flashlights to the wooded area near their home. That’s when they discovered India, inside a tied-up plastic bag, with her arm sticking out of an opening.
Forsyth Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Roper was first on the scene, and can be seen taking the baby out of the plastic bag and scooping her up into a makeshift blanket in the officer’s bodycam footage, which has since been released to the public.
Deputy Roper told Good Morning America:
When we were able to pick her up, wrap her up, get her a little warm, I was able to talk to her a little bit.
I wanted to give her comfort. A little bit later I realised it was the first time she had felt love, and I felt honoured to be able to give her that.
Roper said it was in God’s plan for the baby to be saved, as the Ragatz family had just that moment arrived home from their holidays and India was in the right spot to be heard.
ABCForsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman described the events as a ‘miracle’, adding that India had no significant injuries. He went on to call the family who rescued her ‘heroes’, saying: ‘Without them, this is an entirely different and much more tragic story’.
However, the sheriff said they still need to find out who left the baby and why:
Whoever left this child there did not leave this child with the intent of it being found. We need the public’s help… somebody knows something about Baby India.
The sheriff’s office said yesterday (June 26) that the baby is ‘thriving and is in the care of the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services’.
Anyone with information about Baby India’s identity is asked to call the tip line at 770-888-7308.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).