A mother allegedly abandoned her infant daughter at a Jiffy Lube in Cobb County, Georgia, over the weekend — and then things got downright dangerous soon after.
Assistant Manager Jarayya Mayes was beginning her shift Saturday morning at the oil change outlet on Floyd Road when a woman approached the service bay pushing a stroller, WAGA-TV reported.
‘Where’s the baby? I need the baby. I gotta go, I gotta go. Some stuff just went down. I gotta go.’
Mayes had seen the woman walking along the street near the business, the station said, but the two had never spoken before.
“She came up to me and my coworker, Elijah, with a stroller,” Mayes told WAGA. “And she was like, ‘Hey, doesn’t my baby look so cute? Is my baby so cute?’ We were like, ‘Yeah, baby’s adorable.’ And she was. She was absolutely adorable.”
The woman asked the Jiffy Lube workers to watch the infant girl, telling them she had something to do, Mayes added to the station.
Then the woman reportedly left the stroller behind and claimed paperwork was inside a bag — and even told the workers that they could keep the child if she did not return, WAGA reported.
“She just kept saying, ‘The paperwork is in the bag. You guys can just have her if I don’t make it back,'” Mayes recalled to the station. “Once she said that, red flags immediately.”
Mayes called 911 after the woman walked away, WAGA said, adding that Mayes also checked on the baby, discovering she was wearing a soaked diaper and had rashes on her neck and body.
Then about 15 minutes later, while Mayes was on the phone with dispatchers, the mother allegedly returned to the shop and demanded the child back — while carrying a knife, the station said.
Mayes told WAGA the woman said, “Where’s the baby? I need the baby. I gotta go, I gotta go. Some stuff just went down. I gotta go.”
Emergency dispatchers said during the 911 call not to allow the mother leave with the baby, the station said — but fortunately police officers soon arrived at the scene.
WAGA said police arrested 35-year-old Laraven Davis and took her to jail on charges of child abandonment and reckless conduct, while paramedics took the infant to a hospital for a medical evaluation.
WSB-TV reported that Davis was granted a $4,000 bond in the wake of her misdemeanor charges.
As for Mayes, she told WAGA that her maternal instincts took over the moment the Davis left her workplace.
“As a mom, it broke me down, I did cry a lot,” Mayes recalled to WAGA. “I was just a mom looking out for another kid. I just, I couldn’t let that baby go like that. That was heartbreaking.”
Police have not disclosed what prompted the mother’s actions or where the child will be placed following medical clearance from the hospital, WAGA added.
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Georgia, Jiffy lube, Mother, Infant, Child abandonment, Arrest, Crime
