Baby’s death ruled homicide

The death of a baby in Corona has been ruled a homicide, said police.
Officers in the 115 precinct responded to a 9-1-1 call of an unconscious baby on December 29, 2010 and upon arrival, officers discovered a 3-month-old boy unconscious and unresponsive. EMS also responded to the scene and transported the baby, Addison Reinoso-Xoyatla, to Elmhurst Hospital.
According to the Queens District Attorney office, the baby was crying when his caretaker, Ana DeLarosa, 26, shook him hard and asked, “What is wrong with you? Why are you crying?” Delarosa allegedly shook the baby until he stopped crying and went limp.
Examinations at the hospital determined the baby suffered a brain injury from abusive head trauma which occurs when a baby is violently and repeatedly shaken. The baby died on January 4, 2011 after being taken off life support.
On January 7, DeLarosa was charged with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
The ambulance had been hindered by unplowed streets but Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said “we expect that the medical evidence will show that the death of this child occurred because the brain was severely damaged by shaking, not by any purported delay in reaching him.”
This is the second case of a baby shaking-related death in two days. Susana Gil, 26, was charged January 6 with first-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly violently shaking her twenty-one-month-old nephew and causing him to sustain life-threatening injuries, including brain damage.
Brown said “the fragility of a small child cannot be emphasized enough. There is no excuse for shaking a child.”