A newborn baby was found living under a California freeway overpass with his parents in a makeshift tent surrounded by suspected meth pipes, vomit, feces, rotten food and garbage.
Yolo County sheriff’s deputies responded Sept. 9 to a tip about a man and woman living beneath the I-5 overpass near County Road 19A with their newborn.
They found 48-year-old Fernando Esparza, 29-year-old Melissa Rivera and their 7-day-old baby inside a makeshift tent directly beneath the freeway.
Deputies immediately removed the infant from the area. The baby was assessed by medics from AMR and taken to Woodland Memorial Hospital before being transported to a Sacramento County neonatal intensive care unit for further evaluation.
Detectives and Child Welfare Services responded to investigate the child’s welfare and documented what the sheriff’s office described as hazardous living conditions.
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Inside and around the tent, investigators found numerous suspected methamphetamine smoking pipes, accumulated trash, rotten food, sleeping accommodations on a dirt floor without bedding, vomit on a mattress and feces inside a baby carrier.
They also found the mother’s placenta and umbilical cord inside a nearby garbage bag.
The tent’s location directly beneath the freeway also exposed the newborn to “extremely loud noise” from passing traffic, according to investigators.
The parents acknowledged the dangers posed to their newborn and said they had been waiting to take the baby to a hospital for an examination at a later date, the sheriff’s office said.
With the infant’s immediate safety in question, authorities placed the baby into protective custody.
Many reacted to the news online questioning the decision to remove the child from the parents.
“Wild to me you’ll help the baby but not the parents, we live in a backwards society,” one commenter wrote.
“This is so sad. That woman is living through hell. Thank God the baby was saved from that and will hopefully have a safe life ahead,” another person commented.
One person laid the blame on Gov. Gavin Newsom, writing, “Newsom’s California. This wasn’t an issue 15 years ago…”
Esparza and Rivera were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and booked into the Yolo County Jail.
