Rats Kill Infant, Indirectly
A Bronx woman who tried to protect her baby boy from the rats in their apartment by sharing her bed with him accidentally caused his death. [Gladys Robles, 42, slept alongside her 8-week-old baby after the crib became a magnet for rodents, but she rolled on top of him in her sleep this past Sunday night and awoke to find him dead]. Robles called 911 at 10:24 a.m. Monday morning, but the child was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Other residents of the Arthur Ave. building have come forward to attest to Robles' good parenting and to the rampant rat problem. In this record-breaking warm winter, last week was unusually cold, driving even more rats into the $766-a-month apartment Robles shares with her three daughters and the babys father, Christian Nunez. The New York Daily News spoke with the buildings landlord, Christopher Hanoverwho also owns an apartment at the Trump Tower in White Plainsbut he claimed he didn't know the severity of the rat problem. At least one resident says shes alerted him to the infestation in the past. So its rather odd that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development reports 378 open violations in the building, including 20 for mice and rodent infestation. Further, inspectors have gone to court more than five times in the last 18 months just to gain entry into the building in order to fix lead paint problems and repair window guards.
[Experts warn parents not to sleep alongside their children], and indeed it poses a very real danger, but it's not surprising that a mother would believe it's less harmful to tuck her baby in next to her than next to the rats.
Photo courtesy of [fabz on Flickr]