Roanoke police officer named Red Cross Emergency Responder Hero for saving newborn

ROANOKE (WSLS 10) - This year's Red Cross Emergency Responder Hero is actually a Roanoke Police Officer.

On January 5, 2017, Officer Virginia Saunders was dispatched to the 2000 block of Harrison Avenue Northwest for a "suspicious circumstance" involving a newborn child.

However, when she and her superior officers arrived, no sign of a baby, just a 14-year-old denying she'd given birth at home.

There were no signs of delivery and not even a flinch of pain on the mother's face.

Saunders said she started to believe the teen, but then heard a noise.

"There was a point where I heard a sound that could've been either a small kid or a cat and then I asked her if she had any pets and she said no. That's the point when I said 'oh this could be really true and there's possibly a baby somewhere here in this room,'" explained Saunders.

She rescued the child from a plastic container and passed the newborn to medical personnel for treatment.

If you would like to attend the Celebration of Heroes breakfast at Hotel Roanoke Tuesday, March 28.

If you would like to learn more log on to http://www.redcross.org/news/event/local/virginia/Roanoke-Celebration-of-Heroes-Breakfast.


About the Author:

After working and going to school in Central Virginia for over five years, Lindsey’s made her way back home to the mountains.