HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – As Hollywood police continue to investigate the disturbing discovery of a dead baby in a construction site dumpster Monday, a board member for a South Florida nonprofit says it’s a tragedy that was ultimately preventable.
Twenty-one-year-old construction worker David Vazquez found the baby at around 8 a.m. outside a condominium along Rodman Street, near South Federal Highway, and called police. He was working on a roofing project at the time.
“When I opened the bag, I saw it was the baby, but it had already died,” Vazquez said in Spanish. “I smelled a strong odor and wanted to see it.”
Joel Gordon, a board member for A Safe Haven For Newborns, a program dedicated to saving newborns from the dangers of abandonment and assisting pregnant girls and women in crisis, explains what makes the case so heartbreaking.
“When we hear about this, we’re completely brokenhearted, not because it’s a tragedy, but because it’s preventable,” Gordon, a retired first responder, said.
The nonprofit is designed “to prevent that very tragedy from happening,” he said. So is Florida law.
“We have a statute, a law, that allows for someone to surrender -- safely surrender -- an infant, seven days or less to a designated fire station or hospital,” Gordon said. “And the surrenderer’s identity is protected. It’s anonymous.”
Hollywood police said homicide detectives are investigating and are specifically looking for anyone who might have footage that could help them locate a suspect.
“If you live near this area, this is the 1700 block of Rodman Street in the city of Hollywood, and you have a Ring camera and you believe that you have some kind of footage on your Ring camera or on your doorbell camera, please don’t hesitate to call us,” Officer Christian Lata, a Hollywood Police Department spokesperson, said.
Lata also made a specific plea to Tesla drivers.
“These vehicles have 24/7 surveillance around their cars,” he said. “If you live around the area and you have one of those vehicles that are constantly recording to take a second, look at your vehicle, see if you have anything that would be useful to us.”
Police asked anyone with information to call them at 954-764-4357 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
New and expecting mothers can contact A Safe Haven for Newborns’ Florida helpline at 877-767-2229 for assistance.