A 37-year-old mother has been arrested while vacationing at Daytona Beach after she abandoned her baby on the shoreline at night, police said.
A baby was found in the Florida surf of Daytona Beach after being abandoned in the dark by his mother, authorities said. The 1-year-old was unresponsive and "cold to the touch," police said.
Shamika Mitchell, 37, is being held at the Vousia County Branch Jail in lieu of $55,000 bail, according to online records. She is charged with felony aggravated abuse and unlawful desertion of a child, and has not entered a plea, according to court records.
The Detroit woman was vacationing in Florida with her four children, authorities said. They had been living in her car, in the parking lot of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, police said.
Daytona Beach police officers were called at midnight last week, after the woman and her eldest son were fighting in the parking lot, authorities said. The teen demanded to know the location of his young brother when Mitchell returned without the baby, police said.
The teen became upset when his mother said she had given the baby to his father, after meeting him at a local convenience store, police said. The boy didn't believe her because the baby's dad lives in Detroit, authorities said.
The teen called 911, telling the dispatcher, "She sent my little brother somewhere, she said with his dad. I keep telling her to show me proof, proof, but she's not showing me proof," WESH-TV reported.
A church security officer told police he saw the woman leave, carrying the baby, and later came back without the child, authorities said.
Meanwhile, passersby at Daytona Beach discovered the baby in the surf, wearing only a diaper in 57-degree weather, police said. The 1-year-old was unresposive, and waves were crashing over him, completely submerging him, authorities said.
Bystanders plucked the baby from the water, removed his drenched diaper, tried to warm him and called 911, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's office, whose deputies responded to the report.
A deputy took the child into his patrol car, turned on the heat and tried to revive the boy, who eventually began moving his legs, the deparment said. The baby was taken by paramedics for treatment.
Social workers took custody of the other three children, and were holding them pending the arrival of their grandparents, authorities said.
The condition of the baby has not been released by authorities. Inside Edition Digital has reached out for comment to Mitchell's public defender.
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