Young man with diminished mental capacity dropped off at hospital

ATLANTA — Atlanta police are asking for help identifying a teenager dropped off at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Surveillance video showed a woman with the young man walking around the hospital on Dec. 4. However, they never checked in or registered with hospital staff. The woman was later seen getting into a red minivan.

Just before midnight, a nurse spotted the boy hanging out alone outside the hospital. She brought him inside and let social workers take over.

“The adult female walked outside with the young man and left him there. She then left the area in a vehicle,” said Atlanta police Lt. Jeff Baxter.

The young man had no identification and appeared malnourished.

Officials tried to communicate with him but he did not respond to verbal or written communication, and it appears as though he has a diminished mental capacity and may have Down syndrome.

“At this point we just want to know who he is and why that woman left him there,” Baxter said.

Police are calling the teen “John Doe” right now.

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“Based on his diminished mental capacity, he’s not able to speak to us. He’s not able to write, so we’ve had a very hard time trying to understand who he might be and where he lives,” Baxter said.

Authorities are just thankful the nurse was at the right place at the right time to find the young man.

“It was fortunate there was a nurse at Grady hospital, who was on her break, who went outside, and happened to notice this young man outside, and it wasn’t right, and that he needed help and shouldn't have been left like that,” Baxter said.

The young man is being cared for at Grady Hospital and is in the custody of Georgia’s Division of Family and Child Services.

Anyone with information is asked to call APD’s Special Victims Unit at 404-546-4260 or call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477).

Cox Media Group