Courtroom Staff Reportedly Laughed as Samantha Randazzo Delivered Her Baby Handcuffed to a Bench in Brooklyn

A 33-year-old woman gave birth while handcuffed to a courtroom bench in Brooklyn on Friday after spending more than 24 hours in New York City custody on minor charges.

Samantha Randazzo, nine months pregnant at the time, went into labour during arraignment proceedings at the Brooklyn courthouse and delivered her child in open court without adequate medical care, according to a joint statement issued on Saturday night by a coalition of public defenders.

The groups allege that some law enforcement officers, prosecutors and court staff present in the room laughed and joked throughout the ordeal, a claim that Randazzo's own attorney has partially disputed. The incident has reignited a long-running controversy over New York's failure to enforce its own decade-old law banning the shackling of pregnant women in custody.

From Arrest to Custody and Back

Randazzo was arrested on Thursday after New York City Police Department officers responded to the Nostrand Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn. Officers alleged she had been on the roof of her building without authorisation. A search conducted after her arrest allegedly turned up a small amount of heroin and cocaine. She faced charges of drug possession and trespassing.

Because Randazzo had an open warrant at the time of her arrest, she was ineligible for a desk appearance ticket, a mechanism that would have allowed her to attend court voluntarily at a later date. That procedural bar kept her in full custody.

Officers took her to a nearby hospital, where she was assessed, then discharged approximately 30 hours later and transported directly to the Brooklyn courthouse for arraignment. She arrived nine months pregnant.

The coalition statement describes what happened next. 'Ms. Randazzo had reportedly recently been discharged from a hospital despite being nine months pregnant before being returned to custody and brought to Brooklyn arraignments, where she went into labour in open court,' the five organisations wrote. No medical professional was present in the courtroom when she delivered.

Laughter in Court During Unassisted Birth

According to the joint statement, Randazzo gave birth on the courtroom bench in full view of law enforcement, prosecutors and court staff. The coalition alleges that some of those present 'laughed and joked' throughout the delivery. 'She deserved care, compassion, safety and dignity. Instead, she was subjected to trauma and humiliation in full public view,' the groups wrote.

Randazzo's defence attorney, Wynton Sharpe, offered a different account of the officers' conduct. Sharpe, a Brooklyn-based criminal defence lawyer with more than 15 years of experience and a former Assistant District Attorney for Kings County, told The New York Times that court officers responded quickly once the situation became clear.

The presiding judge, he said, immediately cleared the room. 'She didn't have to say anything. We were like, oh OK, this is happening, like, now,' Sharpe told the Times. 'It was a joyful and sad situation, given the circumstances.'

The two accounts leave unresolved whether the alleged laughter preceded or followed the judge's order to clear the courtroom. The New York court system had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.

A Decade of Anti-Shackling Laws That Failed

New York State banned the use of restraints on pregnant women during labour and delivery in 2009 under NY Correction Law § 611. Six years later, the state expanded those protections to cover all custodial settings, including transport, and extended them to cover women up to eight weeks postpartum. That 2015 amendment was specifically introduced after reports that the original law was routinely being ignored by officers who argued that internal police procedures took precedence.

The gap between law and practice has already cost New York City heavily. In 2019, the city paid £481,500 ($610,000) to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a woman who was shackled at the wrist and ankle while delivering her daughter at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx after a misdemeanour arrest. In 2021, a separate case resulted in a £590,500 ($750,000) settlement after another woman was kept shackled through active labour at Kings County Hospital.

The NYPD revised its Patrol Guide in 2020 to narrow the circumstances under which officers may restrain pregnant detainees. Legal Aid lawyers responded at the time by calling the revised policies 'vague and inadequate.' The New York City Bar Association has since noted that the 2009 ban contains loopholes that still permit restraints in police stations and other custodial settings outside prisons and jails. Randazzo's birth happened precisely in one of those unregulated gaps.

As of Saturday, no charges had been filed against any officer or court staff member in connection with the incident, and no prominent New York official had issued a formal public response.

A baby born in a Brooklyn courtroom has put New York City on notice that settlements, amended patrol guides, and two decades of legislation have not been enough.