A woman from upstate New York has been charged in connection with the death of a 23-month-old child at a daycare center she ran out of her apartment, according to police.
Jessica Sims, 24, of Mattydale was charged with first-degree felony manslaughter for allegedly causing a lethal head injury to Lennox Santiago of Liverpool, the Onandaga County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday.
The arrest happened after a months-long investigation into the tragic incident.
Sims called 911 to report that Lennox had fallen out of a chair and hit head on July 17, at about 4:30 p.m.
EMTS discovered Santiago unconscious but still breathing and rushed him to a local hospital according to Syracuse.com.
He went through brain surgery for a severe head injury but died two days later.
While questioning Sims, her story “changed on several occasions,” Onondaga County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Jon Seeber told Syracuse.com.
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Detectives determined that Sims allegedly “recklessly” caused the child’s death “by striking the child’s head on a table inside her residence,” the Sheriff’s Office states in the release.
The detective learned that Sims was the only adult home at the time of the incident while there were three other young children who were also in the apartment.
Sims appeared in Centralized Arraignment Court on Thursday where she was arraigned on the manslaughter charge and a charge of violating probation.
After she was arrested, Sims was on probation and charged in 2017 for driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident, court records reveal.
Currently, Sims is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail or $100,000 bond.
Sims is currently scheduled to return to court on Wednesday in Salina Town Court. She has not entered a plea deal yet.
It is not clear if she has retained an attorney who can speak on her behalf.
The child’s obituary says he “passed away peacefully on Friday after twenty-three happy months. He had an infectious smile and radiated love to everyone he met.”