Ledrika Ford a Utica, NY mother is charged with child endangerment after her baby son is filmed crawling along the middle of a busy road. Other episodes of neglect?
Ledrika Ford, a 27 year old upstate Utica, New York mother has been charged with child endangerment after her nine month old baby boy was found by strangers crawling alone in the middle of a busy road.
Video posted to Facebook, and viewed more than 2.4 million times (see below), showed the infant crawling on his stomach in the middle of Bleecker Street alone on Friday night. Several strangers are seen attending to the baby and attempting to call 911.
Towards the end of the video, a woman is heard running up an assembled crowd yelling: ‘That’s my baby! Oh my god!’
An ensuing police investigation led to Ledrika Ford on the 500 block of Milgate Street, in Utica being booked reported newyorkupstate.com.
Ledrika Ford Utica mother: ‘I thought my baby was in the back seat (when I drove away)’.
In a statement released on Saturday morning, Utica Police said Ford told officers that she and an unnamed relative were unsure as to how her infant ended up on the street. During questioning Ford claimed believing that the child had been secured in the rear of a vehicle before driving away.
It was only after realizing (but when ???) that the child wasn’t there (after the child managed to open the door???), Ford returning to the area of Pellettieri Ave. and Bleecker St. where she encountered the crowd and retrieved the boy.
Read a statement, ‘She advised officers that the infant was secured in the rear of a vehicle that she was in when they left a location on Bleecker Street,’
‘A short time later, she looked to the back seat and found that the child was not there. They immediately returned to the area of Pellettieri Avenue and Bleecker Street where they located her child.’
Ledrika Ford Utica mother: Other instances of child neglect?
Two Utica Police officers and two workers from Oneida County Child Protective Services met at Ford’s home on Saturday around 11.30am.
After the two-hour visit, the nine-month-old baby and Ford’s other three children – ages one, two and five – were taken away WKTV reported. Ford could be heard crying as the car containing her kids drove away.
The 27-year-old mother, who is not in police custody, was charged with the misdemeanor of endangering the welfare of a child which could mean up to one year in prison if convicted. She is due back in court on Friday, March 23.
It wasn’t immediately clear if there had been other instances of child neglect?
The baby was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, but police have yet to release the condition of the baby.
