Woman gives birth in Brooklyn courtroom during drug arraignment

Samantha Randazzo gave birth on a courtroom bench in Brooklyn just before midnight, turning a routine drug arraignment into a stark breakdown of medical, police and court decision-making. The 33-year-old, who was reported to be nine months pregnant, had been in custody for more than 24 hours when the delivery happened inside Kings County Criminal Court.

Police said Randazzo was arrested Thursday evening after officers saw two people on a rooftop at a public housing complex with a controlled substance in plain view. The charges included criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal trespass. Officers said she was wearing baggy clothes, did not tell them she was pregnant, and did not indicate any disabilities. She declined medical attention at the scene and again at the station house, police said.

Around 3:30 a.m. Friday, Randazzo told officers she was pregnant and experiencing withdrawal from drugs. Police took her to a local hospital, which later discharged her. Roughly four hours after that discharge, she returned to Brooklyn arraignments and went into labor in open court, just before midnight.

The episode has drawn intense scrutiny because it appears to have crossed several institutional thresholds without triggering enough intervention. Public defender organizations said attorneys and staff witnessed the labor and delivery on a courtroom bench without adequate medical care, privacy or dignity, surrounded by court personnel, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and others. The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem called for an immediate, transparent investigation into the Office of Court Administration, the New York City Police Department, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and court staff.

The defenders also said reports that courtroom staff joked during the incident were deeply disturbing. Randazzo’s lawyer, Wynton Sharpe, said court officers rushed to assist when her water broke and described the moment as “joyful and sad.” He said he expected the case to be dismissed. Her arraignment went forward without her after the birth, and Sharpe said the baby was a boy.

The case has raised pointed questions about why a woman in late-term pregnancy was discharged from a hospital and brought back to court while still in custody. It also highlights a broader and long-running concern in New York’s criminal-justice system: how pregnant people in detention are handled when medical needs collide with arrest processing, court schedules and the absence of an urgent, coordinated response.