Police in central England left an abandoned baby they thought was dead in a freezing street for up to an hour Sunday before realizing he was still alive.
The newborn child was found wrapped in a blanket in a bag left outside a mosque in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent. A message read 'Please help bury him' and included $30.
An officer raised the alarm after seeing "vague" signs of life.
The baby - undiscovered for four hours before cops were alerted - was rushed to the local hospital.
The tiny boy was pronounced dead an hour later. A probe will investigate if officers could have done more for him.
A witness saw the bag at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday but took no action. Said Ahned, 64, peered inside at 10:40 a.m. and called the police.
"An officer took a brief look in the bag and presumed, because of the letter, the baby was dead," Ahned said.
Another witness, Penelope Meadows, 21, told the Sun, "They put a tent over the body. The officers looked panicked when they discovered the child was alive."
The baby reached the hospital at about 11:30 a.m. Police are still looking for the baby’s mother and are treating the death as “unexplained.” An autopsy is scheduled.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed it was investigating the police's "initial response."
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