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Georgia deputies released body camera footage Tuesday of the moment first responders found a newborn baby alive abandoned in a plastic bag in the woods.
Authorities found the baby girl in a wooded area in Cumming, Georgia, after a 911 call came in around 10 p.m. on June 6, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office. Baby India, as she has been named by authorities, is "thriving" and in the care of a foster care approved by the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services.
In the video released Tuesday, a deputy ripped open a plastic bag to reveal India still covered in fluids and an umbilical cord attached. India was then wrapped in cloth and given first aid by paramedics before being taken to a local hospital.
"Yeah she's a sweetheart," a man said in the video as paramedics arrived.
Alan Ragatz, who lives in the area where India was found, told NBC-affiliate WXIA that his four daughters heard a baby crying.
“We found what looked like a bathmat that was all wrapped up, and by the time we got to it and opened the bath mat, it was a little baby, in what looked like a Publix bag, tied," Ragatz said. “She still had her umbilical cord and part of the placenta.”
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office released video of deputies finding the newborn in the hopes that it would help lead to "credible information" on the baby's identity. The department reminded the public on Tuesday that Georgia does have a Safe Haven law to ensure babies can be properly cared for.
"This law allows a child's mother to leave her baby, up to 30 days old, with an employee of any medical facility including any hospital, institutional infirmary, health center or birthing center in Georgia without prosecution," Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office said.
Forsyth Sheriff Ron Freeman told WXIA Tuesday that the department has had hundreds if not thousands of calls and emails asking to adopt India or donate to her care.
"It gives me hope more that we can solve it because people are interested," Freeman said. "If this doesn't tug at your heart strings and really get to the core of your soul, then I don't know if I ever want to have a conversation with you."
India is doing "fantastically well" in the care of a foster home, according to Freeman, but he says he's still shocked that anyone would abandon a baby in such a way.
"I don't know how you even conceive of another human being doing something like this to a beautiful young child like that," Freeman said.