Background: News footage of the Brooklyn neighborhood where the daughter of Karla Espinal was found unresponsive (WABC). Inset: Surveillance footage of Espinal’s arrest (New York Post).
A New York woman was arrested after her 6-year-old daughter was found unconscious in the bathtub and later died. Prosecutors said she was “baptizing” her daughter.
Karla Espinal, 26, pleaded not guilty in court and remanded without bail after being charged by New York City police with felony assault and reckless endangerment of a child. On the afternoon of Feb. 7, first responders answered a call to the Brooklyn home of Espinal, where she lived with the girl’s father and their children. When authorities arrived, they found the little girl unresponsive with blood clots in her eyes. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
According to reporting by The New York Times, the girl’s father, who was not identified by name, texted his manager on the afternoon of Feb. 7 at about 4 p.m., about an hour after his daughter was pronounced dead. In Spanish, he wrote, “I’m going crazy. I’m here until God gives a miracle. I don’t know what to do.”
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The New York Post was in the courtroom when Espinal was arraigned on the charges against her, to which she pleaded not guilty. During that appearance, prosecutors stated that Espinal told police, “I was baptizing my daughter” when they found the little girl unresponsive in the bathtub. Espinal was put on suicide watch while in custody and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Sources reportedly told the Post that it was likely that the girl was submerged for about 20 minutes and struggled, pointing to the evidence of the blood clots in her eyes that were visible at the scene. An exact cause of death was not provided, but an autopsy is planned.
Espinal may face additional charges based on the autopsy’s findings. She is next due in court on Feb. 14.
