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Man Who Saved Baby From Dumpster Says He Just Reacted To 'Father Instincts'

STOCKTON (CBS13) - A baby, just hours old, was found inside a dumpster at a Stockton apartment complex on Tuesday.

Thankfully, someone heard crying coming from this area and didn't walk away.

"When I looked in there, the bag was moving and I said man that's a baby in there," Troy Cooper said. He live in the complex and immediately called over to the apartment manager for help.

"It's the father instincts. I gotta make sure that he's fine," John Pedebone said.

He rushed over. Not wanting to waste a single second, he propelled himself up into the dumpster.

"If I go get the ladder, I might be late so I just react. If I get hurt I get hurt, but I want to get in there to make sure he's okay," Pedebone said.

It was nearly 100 degrees at noon. They didn't have any time to spare.

"It can turn tragic in a matter of seconds if that baby it was left in that dumpster any longer," Stockton Police Officer Joe Silva said.

Thankfully the baby is okay. Then it was up to police to track down the mother, a 15-year-old, who is now facing felony child abuse and endangerment charges.

"Nothing is that serious where you have to just discard a child like trash," said Cooper.

Safe Surrender is an option for all mothers in California. The program allows them to drop off a child within 72 hours of giving birth at fire stations or emergency rooms.

"That didn't happen here today and as you can imagine and as you can imagine we are in the middle of a heat wave in our region and if that baby was left in that dumpster any longer who knows what could've happened," Silva said.

As long as there are no signs of abuse, there are no questions asked and the baby can go to a loving home, and family.

"I think that baby is something special and I already am trying to see if no one wants him, me and my wife we wanted to take him," Pedebone said.

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