Man Arraigned On Charges In New Haven Baby's Death

New Haven CT

05 January, 2021

1:19 PM

Description

NEW HAVEN, CT — A Bridgeport man was arrested on a warrant and arraigned in New Haven Superior Court Monday in connection with a 4-month-old child's death, according to prosecutors. Angel Rodriguez, 35, of Central Avenue, was charged with first-degree manslaughter and risk of injury to a minor. He was held on $500,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 19. Prosecutors said in a statement that emergency services were called Nov. 8 on a report of an unresponsive 4-month-old baby. First responders treated and transported the baby to the Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital where she was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit on a ventilator, still unresponsive, and in critical condition. Two days later, the child died in the hospital. An autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the baby's manner of death to be a homicide, with the cause of death due to blunt impact injury of the head and neck. Investigators learned from the child's mother that she fed the baby that morning before leaving the child in the care of Rodriguez when she went to work. Rodriguez told investigators that the baby was moving, laughing, and behaving normally in the morning, but he telephoned 911 in the afternoon after he discovered the child on her belly, face down on a bed, blue and cold to the touch. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Rodriguez was the only person in the home at the time of the incident. Rodriguez has denied injuring the baby while she was in his care.