Atlanta Police have charged a mother with second degree child cruelty after her baby died at the Greyhound bus station in Downtown on Tuesday, July 21.
According to the police report, officers responded to a 911 call at the station and found a baby, whose age has not been released, unresponsive. The child was transported to Hughes Spalding Hospital where doctors pronounced her dead.
The mother, Alexus Washington, told police she arrived in Atlanta on July 20 and was en route to to New Orleans. She missed her connecting bus and decided to walk around Atlanta until the next one. She got a ride from a police officer back to the bus station. Back at the station, the mother noticed her daughter was unresponsive. She stated she took the child outside to cool her off and went to the store. After walking back to the bus station the mother noticed that her daughter was still unresponsive and began CPR. The mother then advised that she was unfamiliar with the area but decided to try to go to the hospital with her daughter on foot and then placed her belongings in an ally near the bus station.
Officers determined that the mother did not go to the hospital to seek treatment for her child and made no attempt to summon help. The mother also made no attempt to contact an ambulance, police, fire, or 911. The investigation continues, along with a final ruling from the medical examiner’s office.