BUSHWICK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Nbel Elcede still can't believe what he saw and what his security cameras captured Friday night inside his Myrtle Avenue mini-market in Bushwick.
Just after 7:15 p.m., Markishsa Greene, 32, entered his store pushing a baby stroller. She then stopped and asked to use the restroom.
Elcede told Eyewitness News that Greene left the baby stroller unattended and went to the bathroom. Nine minutes later, he sent his son to make sure the woman was okay.
Nobody was in the bathroom - Greene left without the 7-month-old baby girl.
Surveillance shows the 32-year-old apparently waiting for other customers to walk out, so she can leave. Another camera shows her walking right past the stroller, while a different angle shows her exiting past those very same customers, who seemingly realize she just left the store without her baby.
Elcede called 911 and waited with police to see if the woman returned to the store.
She never returned, leaving him to wonder what would prompt a woman to abandon a baby.
"And the lady who came in here, look, is a nice lady, and now why you do that? Maybe a problem with the husband maybe. I don't know," said Elcede.
The baby was unharmed and is now in the care of ACS.
Greene was arrested and charged wth abandonment of a child, and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
New York State law allows a parent to leave an unattended newborn baby without fear of prosecution - if the baby is left at a hospital, staffed police, or firehouse.
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