Heartbreaking video shows newborn all alone in apartment for a week after mom met tragic fate
A newborn baby girl found 'barely clinging to life' beside her death mother is expected to survive thanks to the heroic actions of police.
Officers stormed a Phoenix apartment on May 14 as they carried out a welfare check on a new mother who had not been seen for several days, heartbreaking body camera footage released Thursday shows.
Police arrived at the home, peered through an open window and saw the mother lying 'motionless' in the unit.
They shouted out 'hello' and shined a flashlight into the home and onto the infant's face, causing her to move slightly.
'The baby is here and the baby is still alive,' one officer said. Another replied: 'We need to go.'
Officers rushed to the front door, kicked it in and raced towards the infant, whose body was swaddled in a blanket and lying on a bed next to her mother's body.
'Hi,' an officer said as he approached the baby girl. 'Come here. Come here.'
The newborn, who was severely dehydrated and emaciated, wiggled her toes as the officer picked her up and carried her outside saying, 'come on, come on little one'.
The mother had been dead for at least a week by the time the baby was rescued, police said.
The newborn was treated by firefighters at the scene and transferred to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
She has 'improved greatly' and is 'expected to survive', police revealed Thursday.
Neighbors at the apartment complex called police to conduct a welfare check after seeing packages piling up outside the unit.
They told police they had not seen the woman 'for days'.
'The mother had passed away while the child was still on the bed still curled up where the mother had left them,' Sgt. Brian Bower told Arizona's Family.
'It wasn't learned until well after the fact from doctors and staff at the hospital that if the police officers didn't immediately provide aide and didn't immediately go into the apartment, the child may not have survived much longer.'
The mother's cause of death remains under investigation. Her identity has not yet been released to the public.
No information has been given as to whether the girl's father is on the scene.
The Department of Child Safety is also involved in the case.
Sgt. Bower has praised the 'immediate actions' of his officers, which saved the baby's life, as well as the community for requesting help when they noticed 'something unusual'.
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