Officers rescue infant from man trying to give her away to motorists

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee police arrested a man on Monday, May 21st near W. Center Street after numerous callers reported the man was walking into traffic trying to give away an infant to passing motorists.

When officers arrived on the scene, the suspect was walking in traffic with an eight-month-old infant in his arms. Authorities say vehicles were swerving to avoid hitting the suspect as he walked down the middle of the street.

"He had a baby. He didn't have no shirt on. Red hair on one side. Green hair on the other side," Leroy Tipton, who saw everything said.

Tipton was on a bus with others from the Holy Cathedral Church bound for Chicago when car after car swerved to avoid hitting the man and baby.

"Everybody be concerned, and we said a prayer for the young man to turn himself around and to give himself up, because the baby was the one we were most concerned about," Tipton said.

Milwaukee Police Officers Kyle Baus and Daniel Reilly tried talking to the man, who was agitated and refused to hand the infant over.

"We took it up a notch. We draped his arms. He tightened his grip on the child. We knew we had to get the child away, so Officer Buse grabbed his head and chin and tilted him back, so he loosened his grip on the child and I grabbed the child away," Officer Reilly said.

Later, it was discovered the eight-month-old baby girl had a heart transplant and needed medication.

The man took the child without permission from a family member -- and it was not his child.

"She had been through a lot in February having a transplant, so we didn't want to make it any tougher for her, so we were glad we could get her away from the subject," Officer Reilly said.

The suspect is being referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office for recklessly endangering safety.

Some would call the MPD officers who saved the infant's life heroes.

"There's 1,800 other guys that would have done the same thing that we work with," Officer Buse said.