Father Arrested, Tries To Leave San Jose Hospital With Newborn Against Mother's Wishes

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A father who walked away with his newborn baby Saturday morning inside O'Connor Hospital in San Jose tripped a monitoring system and was stopped before he could leave, a spokeswoman said.

Around 9:40 a.m. Saturday, the hospital's staff was alerted by its infant security alarm that a child had been taken from its mother's room, O'Connor Hospital spokeswoman Donna Cumming said.

A monitoring bracelet on the baby's ankle set off an alarm that prompted the announcement of a "code pink" for a missing baby on the facility's public address system, Cumming said.

Employees on the floor went to the elevators and stairwells to prevent the man from exiting the floor with the child, Cumming said.

The staff reached him before he entered an elevator and called San Jose police, who responded quickly, Cumming said.

"We practice this kind of infant alarm routinely, so the system worked the way it should," Cumming said.

Police arrested the man, who is not being identified, on suspicion of domestic violence and child endangerment, spokeswoman Sgt. Heather Randol said.

The baby was not harmed and reunited with its mother, Cumming said.