A woman gave birth in a Brooklyn courtroom Friday evening, just hours after leaving the hospital, according to police and witnesses.
Samantha Randazzo, 33, went into labor during her drug arraignment and delivered her baby “on a court bench, without adequate medical care, privacy or dignity,” according to a joint statement from the Legal Aid Society and several public advocacy organizations whose members witnessed the birth.
Randazzo’s attorney, Wynton Sharpe, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. In a separate interview with the New York Times, He praised court officials who rushed to help Randazzo when his water broke and described the situation as “joyful and sad.”
Randazzo gave birth to a baby boy, according to her lawyer.
The New York Police Department said Randazzo was arrested Thursday evening after officers allegedly saw two people on the roof of a public housing complex with a controlled substance “in plain sight.” She was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal trespass.
“At the time of her arrest and when they arrived at the police station, Ms. Randazzo wore baggy clothing, did not inform the officers that she was pregnant, did not indicate any disability and refused to receive medical treatment,” police said.
Early Friday morning, around 3:30 a.m., Randazzo then informed officers that she was pregnant and “in withdrawal from drugs,” according to the police statement. Police say they then took her to a local hospital, which later released her. She gave birth at the courthouse just before midnight, about four hours after her release, the New York Police Department said.
The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, Bronx Defenders, and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem jointly criticized the decisions that led to Randazzo’s work. The organizations also disputed “rumors” that some staff members had joked about the incident.
The statement calls for an investigation into the incident and a review of protocols governing pregnant people in detention.
“What happened in this courtroom was not simply a failure of protocol or preparation,” the statement said. “This was a profound moral failure and a devastating reflection of the cruelty embedded in our prison system. »
