Former “American Idol” contestant Syesha Mercado has been in a fight with authorities to regain custody of her toddler son after he was unexpectedly placed in foster care earlier this year. Now her newborn daughter has been taken away from her as well.
On Wednesday, Aug. 11, Mercado took to Instagram Live showing Manatee County, Florida, sheriff’s deputies surrounding her car and insisting that she surrender her days-old baby in a surprise welfare check. In the video, Mercado holds the infant in a blanket and begs deputies not to take her, explaining the baby is breastfed. After pumping a couple ounces of breast milk in the back of her car into a bottle for her daughter, Mercado then carried her daughter over to deputies.
“How could you guys do this? Do you not feel anything? My baby is days old and you’re taking my baby away from me. … You have no heart. This is so wrong,” the heartbroken mother sobbed.
Her partner and children’s father Tyron Deener was also in the vehicle during the ordeal. The hour-long video, which had more than 1.7 million views, shows multiple police vehicles flashing lights while two deputies serve the couple with a court order to turn over their baby.
During the video, sheriff’s deputies also state that the child was being taken because the couple did not inform authorities that Mercado had given birth while she was in the midst of a legal battle over custody of her first child. The baby had just gone for a checkup the day before, the couple explains in the video, and received a clean bill of health.
Continue reading on the following page.
