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Mother Who Tried To Drown Newborn In McDonald's Toilet Pleads No Contest

REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) – A 26-year-old woman has pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges after trying to drown a baby she had just given birth to in a bathroom at the McDonald's restaurant where she worked as a cashier in Redwood City in 2017, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Sarah Lockner, a Redwood City resident, was employed at the McDonald's restaurant at 185 Chestnut St. and on her shift on Sept. 4, 2017, she went to the bathroom multiple times and complained of stomach pains, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

A co-worker went into the bathroom to check on Lockner and saw blood on the floor, but Lockner said it was from a heavy period.

When a second co-worker went to check on her, she looked over the stall where Lockner was and saw a newborn baby face down in the toilet bowl with Lockner's hand on the baby's back, prosecutors said.

sarah lockner redwood city police photo
Sarah Lockner (Redwood City Police Dept.)

As the co-worker stepped down to the floor, she heard the toilet flush. Lockner told the co-worker not to call the police, but police were called and officers arrived to find a baby boy that had no pulse and was not breathing, according to the district attorney's office.

The boy was rushed to a hospital and after a medically induced coma, is surviving on his own, prosecutors said.

Lockner claimed she did not know she was pregnant. She was initially charged with attempted murder, but pleaded no contest Monday to the felony child endangerment plea with an enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury on a child under 5 years old in exchange for a sentence of up to four years in state prison, prosecutors said.

She will return to court on May 3 for sentencing. Lockner's defense attorney Jonathan McDougall was not immediately available to comment on the case.

© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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