Authorities in New York City have apprehended a woman accused of leaving a newborn at a subway station, a case that has captured the city’s attention.
Assa Diawara, a 30-year-old resident of Queens, has been identified as the individual allegedly seen in surveillance footage abandoning a baby girl, who was subsequently found unharmed at Manhattan’s Penn Station on Monday morning.
Following her arrest early Wednesday, Diawara faces charges of child abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child, as confirmed by an update from the New York Police Department.
In their efforts to solve the case, police had previously reached out to the public for assistance in identifying the woman recorded carrying the infant.
According to the NYPD, Diawara was spotted on video entering the 34th Street-Penn Station Subway, specifically on the southbound platform of the “1” train. She allegedly left the baby girl, wrapped in a blanket, unattended on October 20, 2025.
The baby was discovered by authorities at approximately 9:30 a.m. local time on Monday, on the stairs leading to the southbound No. 1, 2, and 3 trains at the 34th Street–Penn Station stop, as detailed in police reports.
Officials were alerted after an anonymous caller reported seeing the baby left unattended on the steps at West 34th Street and 7th Avenue.
Construction near Penn Station in New York, US, on Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When first responders from the FDNY and NYPD arrived, they found the baby wrapped in a blanket, conscious and alert. The baby was then taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Her umbilical cord was still attached, FOX 5 New York reported.
The identity of the infant’s parents has not yet been publicized.
A newborn was discovered wrapped in blanket on subway stairs at Penn Station New York. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Per New York’s Safe Haven Law, parents are allowed to legally and safely surrender newborns at hospitals, police precincts, or fire stations without facing criminal charges as long as the child is left in the care of responsible personnel.
