Woman Leaves Infant Outside Boston Museum

Museum watchman John Quinlan did a double-take at what his security camera picked up early Sunday: a woman dropping off a small bundle with dangling little legs.

Quinlan rushed outside and found a 2-month-old baby - alive, alone and crying next to some bushes at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. It was below-freezing and the boy was dressed only in a red T-shirt and diaper.

Moments later, Quinlan said the woman emerged from behind a utility pole and asked: “Can I have the baby back?”

The woman, 28-year-old Cassie Somers of Solon, Maine, faces charges of cruelty and neglect to children and child abandonment. Police said the baby was hers.

“Once I came out and saw the baby, I picked it up and it stopped crying,” said Quinlan. “Then I saw her, she looked at me, and it seemed like she knew she made a mistake.”

Authorities said the child, left near one of the museum’s parking lots, may not have survived were it not for the guards and the cameras.

“This could have been a very tragic event,” said Boston Police spokesman Kevin Jones.

Police would not comment on what Somers told them or why she had left the baby. She was being held at a Boston jail awaiting a Monday arraignment.

The infant was listed in good condition at Children’s Hospital.