A Bridgeport man has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of a 4-month-old baby girl in New Haven in 2019.
New Haven State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin said Monday that 35-year-old Angel Rodriguez, of Bridgeport, was arrested and charged with manslaughter in the first degree and risk of injury.
Officials found the baby unresponsive when they responded to a 911 call on the afternoon of Nov. 8, 2019, and the baby was transported to the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, where she was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit on a ventilator.
Two days later, on Nov. 10, 2019, the baby girl died in the hospital, officials said.
The office of the chief medical examiner determined the baby died from blunt impact injury of the head and neck and her death was ruled a homicide.
Investigators learned from the child’s mother that she’d fed the baby that morning before leaving her 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 called 911 in the afternoon after he found the child unresponsive on her belly, face down on a bed, according to the New Haven State’s Attorney.
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Rodriguez, who authorities said was the only person in the home at the time of the incident, denied injuring the baby while she was in his care.
Bond was set at $500,000 and the case has been transferred to Part A in New Haven. The next court date is scheduled for Jan. 19.
