Photos: 20-Year-Old Mom Who Abandoned Baby On Subway Platform Arrested!

The 20-year-old mother who abandoned her baby girl on a sweltering Manhattan subway platform on Monday was struggling to cope with caring for the child, she told cops. Frankea Dabbs, who moved to New York from North Carolina just days ago, has been charged with abandoning a child after she left her 10-month-old daughter, Milani Edmonds, alone on a train platform at Columbus Circle on Monday morning. 'She felt she couldn't take care of the baby and thought she was leaving her in a safe public space,' NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said. Relatives said that Dabbs, who was homeless after arriving in New York on July 2, had been plagued with troubles in North Carolina, including possible mental health issues and witnessing the killing of her baby's father. Dabbs was forced to cower under the bed in their home in Clinton, North Carolina as masked intruders shot the man dead, her father Franklin Dabbs told the New York Daily News. 'She was there hiding under the bed,' he said. 'I told her, "It could have been you".' Online records and mug shots also show she has previously been arrested for possession of marijuana, assaulting an officer, breaking and entering and solicitation for prostitution.
On Tuesday, Dabbs was found around 12.30am near 72nd Street and Broadway after a passerby recognized her from security footage and alerted a nearby police officer, DNAinfo reported. She allegedly admitted to the officer that she was the mother of the baby girl and was able to provide her name, age and medical history. On Tuesday, she was pictured being hauled in handcuffs to her arraignment by NYPD Transit Robbery Squad detectives. On Monday morning, Dabbs had allegedly pushed the baby's stroller from a northbound 1 train at Columbus Circle before darting back inside the train. Surveillance footage released by the NYPD showed the woman entering the subway with the baby in the stroller earlier in the day, but there were no cameras on the platform where the incident occurred. A 33-year-old bystander saw the baby alone on the platform and stayed with her for about 20 minutes, waiting for the woman to return. When no one came to claim the child, the witness contacted the MTA who took the baby to Transit District 1 Police Station. The baby was then taken to St Luke's Roosevelt hospital for evaluation before she was handed over to the NYC Administration for Children's Services.

The girl had a rash on her face and bandages on her hand but is said to be in good condition. She was reportedly wearing a red and white blouse with red leggings and pampers.  Authorities believe the mother left her there intentionally because no one came forward to claim the baby girl. Patricia Floro, 44, who got off the train at the station with her two-year-old daughter in a stroller, told the Daily News it appeared like a desperate act. 'She must have her reasons for doing that. I mean something else is going on, something deeper that would make her do that,' Floro said.