A 7-year-old girl from The Bronx drowned in a hotel pool and her 5-month-old baby was left alone in her room as her mother allegedly left them to go for drinks at the bar, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The woman identified as Erica Báez, 41, is being held without bail for second-degree manslaughter and endangering the well-being of a child for the events that occurred on January 13, 2022, at a Marriot hotel in Melville. .
The girl Katlyn died on the 1st year after spending more than a year on life support, according to Suffolk County prosecutors.
According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Baez stayed at the hotel with her boyfriend, their 5-month-old son and Katlyn, when the boyfriend left for work that morning.
At around 3:00 p.m. on the tragic day, the mother asked the hotel staff to open the indoor pool around 3:00 p.m., but the workers warned that there was no lifeguard and that she should stay with her daughter, the police said. prosecutor’s office.
But far from heeding the workers’ warning, the woman went to the hotel bar where she ate and drank while her daughter played alone, prosecutors said.
After leaving her alone while he went upstairs to his hotel room to check on his baby, he returned to the bar and left the girl for more than 30 minutes before returning to the pool to find her floating lifeless, the office said.
When members of the emergency services arrived, Báez lied when he stated that he only left the girl for five minutes, the office said.
Emergency workers managed to revive the girl, but she was left with irreversible brain damage from lack of oxygen, and had to live for more than a year on a ventilator and feeding tube until May 1, after becoming septic.
Two weeks later, Baez was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The woman pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday.
“This defendant’s alleged actions were selfish, senseless and heartless,” District Attorney Raymond Tierney said. “We will do everything we can to ensure that justice is served for little Katlyn, whose short life ended too soon.”
Baez is expected to return to court on May 24.
With information from the New York Post