NYPD: Mother of abandoned baby at subway platform charged

NEW YORK -- Police have arrested and charged the woman they say pushed her baby's stroller onto the subway platform at the Columbus Circle station but never got off the train Monday.

Authorities say 20-year-old Frankea Dabbs, whose last known address is in Raleigh, North Carolina, was picked up by police just after midnight after she was spotted by a woman in the vicinity of West 72nd Street and Broadway. The NYPD released surveillance video of the woman about an hour before, and the Good Samaritan recognized her near a Starbucks and alerted an officer. She told police on Tuesday that she is homeless and felt she could no longer take care of the little girl.

The officer approached Dabbs, and she admitted that she abandoned the infant and it was her biological child. She was able to provide the name, medical history and physical description.

Dabbs recently came to New York City, and she apparently decided suddenly that she could no longer take care of the 10-month-old girl, identified as Miliani Edmonds. She said the baby's father died recently in California.

The bizarre scene played out on the uptown side the No. 1 train around noon, when a train pulled into 59th Street and Columbus Circle station. Witnesses say the doors opened, and the woman simply pushed a stroller onto the platform without getting off the train. She kept riding as the train pulled out of the station, leaving the baby behind on the platform.

"She felt she couldn't take care of the baby and thought she was leaving her in a safe public space," said Stephen Davis, spokesman for the New York Police Department.

A 33-year-old eyewitness who saw the incident waited about 20 minutes with the stroller, and when no one came back to claim the little girl, she notified police.

Dabbs is charged with abandoning a child and committing actions injurious to a child less than the age of 17.

The girl, wearing a white and red blouse with black leggings and Pampers, was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in stable condition. She is current in the care of ACS.

Police say the infant had some eczema on her cheeks and elbows but was not malnourished.

Dabbs has an active warrant out of North Carolina for marijuana possession. She also had identification indicating she is from California.

A city law that allows people to take an unwanted baby to a firehouse, police station or hospital with no questions asked would not have applied in this case because it only pertains to infants 5 days old or younger.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.