Woman leaves baby after crashing car into school gate in New York

QUEENS, New York -- Authorities say a woman left a baby behind after crashing her car, and the woman later told Eyewitness News exclusively that she planned to turn herself in.

The driver hit a traffic light pole at a Queens intersection just after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

She then crashed into the gate of a junior high school.

Investigators say the woman jumped out of the car and left a 1-year-old girl behind, handing the baby to a stranger before running away.

Later in the evening, a woman approached Eyewitness News and confessed to being the driver who fled. But she said the crash happened after another driver started chasing her through the neighborhood following a fender bender.

"He started to chase me, five blocks, six blocks," said the woman, Malika George. "I'm passing the red light, he's passing the red light behind me and I lost control, hit the school premises. His car is parked behind me and my daughter's in the car seat, she looks fine. I turned to a lady I didn't even know and said, 'Listen, can you hold my daughter for an hour?' I'm going to go down, regardless, because I have no car insurance, no license, I'm young, I'm just trying to learn how to drive. I miss my daughter so much and I would do anything in the world to get her back. I work two jobs and I have to have a car to get to work, to get home."

George said she is 25 and a guard for the Department of Homeless Services in the city. She said she was planning to turn herself in to police, but first she wanted to head to the hospital to look for her daughter.

The girl was turned over to police and taken to a hospital for observation. She was not injured. ACS has taken temporary custody of the child.

George is homeless and set to be arraigned Thursday on charges of acting in a manner injurious to a child, reckless endangerment, operating a motor vehicle without insurance, unregistered vehicle, no license, and leaving the scene of an accident.