Woman Gives Birth to a Bouncing Baby Boy' in Brooklyn Courtroom

"Around 11:30 p.m., a 33-year-old woman waiting to appear before a judge on low-level charges suddenly slouched on the bench where she was seated. The woman, Samantha Randazzo, was nine months pregnant and her water broke. Her baby was coming. We saw it, her lawyer, Wynton Sharpe, said. She didn't have to say anything. We were like, oh OK, this is happening, like, now."

"Court officers sprang into action. Some rushed over to help Ms. Randazzo while their colleagues and the judge cleared the courtroom, Mr. Sharpe said. Suddenly, the courtroom had transformed into a labor and delivery unit. Minutes before midnight, the baby arrived. Ms. Randazzo delivered a bouncing baby boy, Mr. Sharpe said. He did not know if the newborn had been named."

"It was a joyful and sad situation, given the circumstances, he said. Babies in New York City have been known to arrive with no apparent regard for the circumstances. One baby girl, Zenovia Remy Legette, made her entrance on a discarded piece of furniture outside her mother's apartment building in the Bronx, thwarting an attempt to reach the hospital. Last year, another baby girl nicknamed Baby W arrived on a moving subway train in Manhattan, leading the police to her mother, who had been reported missing in Florida."

"But no one The Times spoke to on Saturday could remember a case of a child being born in a city courtroom."

A 33-year-old woman waiting to appear on low-level charges in a Brooklyn criminal court went into labor around 11:30 p.m. Her water broke and she slouched on the bench where she was seated. Court officers rushed to help while the judge and others cleared the courtroom, turning it into a labor and delivery space. Minutes before midnight, she delivered a baby boy. The situation was described as joyful and sad because of the circumstances. New York City has seen other unexpected births, including a baby girl born outside an apartment building in the Bronx and another born on a Manhattan subway train, but no one recalled a child being born in a city courtroom.

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