Bathroom birth was second for woman
REDWOOD CITY » A McDonald’s employee accused of trying to flush her newborn baby down a toilet at a Redwood City location this month also gave birth in a bathroom at home three years ago, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. Both times, 25-year-old Redwood City resident Sarah Jane Lockner reportedly said she did not know she was pregnant.
“Most women aren’t delivering babies in toilets,” Wagstaffe said, “but she seems to have a penchant for it.”
While there was “nothing criminal” about the first delivery, Lockner now faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated attempted murder and child endangerment, Wagstaffe said.
The episode unfolded Sept. 4 at the McDonald’s on Chestnut Street in Redwood City.
Lockner went to the restroom several times during her shift with complaints of stomach pain, and during one trip a co-worker noticed blood on the floor, which she reportedly dismissed as her having a “heavy period.”
During another visit to the bathroom, a second coworker checking on Lockner looked over the stall and saw a newborn baby facedown in the toilet, with Lockner’s hand on its back, Wagstaffe said. As the coworker stepped down, she told investigators she heard the toilet flush.
Lockner reportedly told the co-worker not to call police, but she did anyway and responding officers found the baby boy not breathing and without a pulse. He was rushed to a hospital and placed in a medically induced coma but is now surviving on his own.
Lockner on Monday was scheduled to enter a plea, but her court-appointed attorney, Jonathan McDougall, requested and was granted a continuance until Oct. 2, Wagstaffe said.
McDougall could not be immediately reached for comment.
Despite having been born under similar circumstances, Lockner’s other child is “normal and fine,” Wagstaffe said.
Lockner remains in custody on $11 million bail.