Jarvis Sims and Christina Thurman, Denver, Colorado couple arrested abandoning one month old baby boy on roadway median on Christmas day. Mother and father charged with felony child abuse.
Colorado authorities have arrested a couple for allegedly abandoning their newborn infant child wearing nothing but a diaper along a median roadway in a car seat in Denver on Christmas Day.
Jarvis Sims, 42, and Christina Thurman, 33, were taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with one count each of felony child abuse, authorities announced.
According to a Facebook news release from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, deputies at about 9:20 a.m. on December 25, Xmas Day, responded to a 911 call from someone who saw an unattended baby in a car seat that had been left in the median near 7490 Pecos Street in Denver, Colorado.
‘Display only. Not intended for sale.’
The child, described as being only one month old boy was said to be ‘wearing only a diaper’ and had been left ‘sitting in a car seat/ carrier.’ Authorities said the child appeared to be ‘mixed race or Hispanic.’
The sheriff’s office said the person who called 911 stopped to help the child before notifying authorities.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders canvassed the area in hopes of finding surveillance camera footage showing who left the child on the street or someone who may have been in the area at the time the baby was abandoned.
The Sheriff’s office also posted photographs of the car seat in which the child was found. On the center of the seat was a small sign that read: ‘Display only. Not intended for sale.’
How does the Safe Haven Law work in Colorado?
Added the release; ‘We are hoping someone recognizes the car seat or knows something about the baby or family so he can be united with his loved ones and the person who abandoned him can be brought to justice.’
Investigators were in contact with family members during the investigation. At 8:40 p.m., the sheriff’s office announced the arrests of the biological parents
The baby was transported to Children’s Hospital Colorado ‘as a precaution.’
Not immediately clear is the exact age of the abandoned baby and why the parents had chosen to leave the infant baby in the middle of the roadway wearing only a diaper and had not sought alternate arrangements to legally leave the baby with authorities- aka the Safe Haven law, which allows newborns in Colorado up to 72 hours or younger to be left at a designated venue, with no questions asked, as long as the child has not been injured or hurt. Most states allow up to seven to 30 days (23 states).
