The baby was found strapped inside a car seat, abandoned on the side of a busy interstate.
At first glance, people driving along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma City thought they were seeing a discarded doll in the patchy grass and weeds.
The driver of a church bus full of kids was the first to stop. He quickly realized the tiny body strapped into a car seat just 10 feet off the busy road was a living and breathing baby.
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“It was not moving. Its eyes were closed,” Roger Prater told The Oklahoman. “I thought, ‘Lord, don’t let this thing be hurt,'" Prater said.
Several other drivers pulled over, startled by the sight of the 1-month-old abandoned near a freeway, facing oncoming traffic.
Someone changed the boy’s diaper. Calls were made to 911.
The child appeared perfectly healthy. He wasn’t fussing. He was scooped up and placed inside a car, away from the scorching sun and temperatures hovering in the 90s.
When police arrived Saturday, they found more than $5,000 in cash stuffed in the car seat, as well as a Social Security card, authorities said.
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First responders said the infant could not have been out in the elements for more than 30 minutes. He was given a clean bill of health at a local hospital and placed in the care of social workers.
His mother was identified through relatives in Texas, police said. She was taken to a medical center for observation, authorities said.
Police are investigating how and why the infant was left on the roadside.
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