D.A. says bathroom birth not mom’s first
Authorities take new look at past incident involving fast-food restaurant cashier.
A cashier who told police she didn’t know she was pregnant when she gave birth in a McDonald’s restroom last week made a similar claim three years ago when she gave birth to another child in a bathroom, the San Mateo County district attorney said Friday.
Sarah Lockner, 25, faces a charge of attempted murder after she allegedly tried to flush her newborn down a toilet at her workplace. When police responded to the Redwood City McDonald’s, she reportedly told them she hadn’t realized she was pregnant.
On Friday, Dist. Atty. Steve Wagstaffe said Lockner had also given birth to a child in her bathroom at home three years earlier.
“Supposedly she stated then that she did not know she was pregnant,” Wagstaffe said.
The prosecutor said “there is no suggestion there was anything criminal” about the previous birth. However, authorities are investigating “the circumstances of the pregnancy and birth” in the earlier incident, Wagstaffe said.
Lockner was working as a cashier on the evening of Sept. 4 when she complained of stomach pain, according to the district attorney’s office.
During her shift, Lockner visited the restaurant’s bathroom multiple times, prosecutors said.
A co-worker was concerned about Lockner, so she entered the bathroom to check on her.
When she went inside, prosecutors said, there was blood on the floor.
Lockner blamed the blood on a heavy period, prosecutors said.
A second co-worker noticed Lockner’s behavior and also decided to check on her.
When the second employee walked into the bathroom and peered over Lockner’s stall, prosecutors said, she “saw a newborn baby face down in the toilet bowl,” with Lockner’s hand on the baby’s back.
The employee then heard the toilet flush.
Lockner asked her coworker not to call police, but it was too late, prosecutors said.
Police arrived to find the baby in Lockner’s arms.
The infant is alive and stable, but has probably suffered brain injury, prosecutors say.
At one point, the infant had no pulse and was not breathing.
Though Lockner has claimed she didn’t know she was pregnant, prosecutors have discovered evidence that indicates she was aware of her condition, Wagstaffe said. He declined to describe the evidence.
Lockner, who is being held on $11-million bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in San Mateo County court.