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Video shows moment residents find baby crawling across street

A nine-month-old baby was found by strangers crawling on a busy New York road which has now led to him being removed from his mother's care.

Footage posted to Facebook by user Rn Jay shows the baby crying in the middle of a road in Utica while good Samaritans stop their cars to attend to him.

One man is seen in the video picking the baby up while others are heard talking about how to handle the situation.

The baby was seen crawling across the road. Source: Facebook / RN Jay
The baby was seen crawling across the road. Source: Facebook / RN Jay

The group decides it's best to call emergency services. The man who took the video then turns the camera on himself.

"That's what people do now - leave their kids in the street?" he asks.

Just before the video ends, a woman can be heard in the background saying "that's my baby, that's my baby".

The man who took the video was shocked. Source: Facebook / RN Jay
The man who took the video was shocked. Source: Facebook / RN Jay
The baby appeared to be in a good condition and was crying slightly. Source: Facebook / RN Jay
The baby appeared to be in a good condition and was crying slightly. Source: Facebook / RN Jay

City of Utica, NY Police Department later released a statement saying they had charged the baby's mother, Ledrika Ford, for endangering the welfare of a child.

All four of Ford's children have since been removed from Ford's care.

Police say they began investigating the incident after they were made aware of the Facebook video.

The baby was taken into care. Source: Facebook / RN Jay
The baby was taken into care. Source: Facebook / RN Jay

Ford told police she and a relative were not sure how the nine-month-old child ended up on the street.

She said the infant was secured in the rear of a vehicle that she was in when they left a location on Bleecker Street but a short time later, she looked to the back seat and found that the child was not there.

The pair then say they immediately returned to the area where they last saw the child, finding him with the group of strangers.