KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Prosecutors have charged a 20-year-old woman with first-degree assault for allegedly trying to flush her newborn son down the toilet at a McDonald's restaurant after giving birth in the restroom.
Ashley Woods, of Kansas City, was charged Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court. She later turned herself into police.
On Aug. 27, employees at McDonald's called 911 after discovering Woods in the bathroom, bleeding.
According to court documents, Woods, who worked at the restaurant, hid the newborn with toilet paper and flushed twice. Court documents say Woods told police that she "didn't want the baby then."
The baby boy was estimated to have been born after 32 weeks of gestation. He survived and is in foster care.
At the time of the birth, Woods told paramedics she didn't know that she was pregnant or that she had just given birth, court documents say. But she told police this week that she had known she was pregnant since July.
Police Sgt. Michael Hicks said Woods had been hospitalized since the birth and that police interviewed her after she was released Tuesday.
Alonzo Washington, a community activist who has spoken on behalf of Woods and her family, questioned Woods' understanding of the events surrounding her child's birth and her statement to police.
Washington said Woods is quiet, doesn't communicate much and lacks the normal mental capacity of a 20-year-old. She has been hospitalized with extremely high blood pressure and kidney failure and is now on dialysis, he said.
"The young lady's in a very fragile state right now," Washington said. "I don't think that she was 100 percent clear about what was going on."
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox