Liz Burke and Steve Klamkin, WPRO News
A New Bedford man has been charged after the death of a 9-month-old baby girl, and court documents indicate the infant suffered a brutal beating.
Authorities said that Ariel Eluziario was brought in to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford in a private vehicle at about 6:00 P.M. Thursday. The girl was then transported by Med Flight to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence for surgery. According to the Bristol County District Attorney's office, she was pronounced dead shortly after 10:00 P.M. at the hospital.
The live-in boyfriend of the girl's mother, 23-year-old Ethen Harrison was charged Friday morning with reckless endangerment of a child, assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
"The allegation of the weapon is the floor," said Assistant District Attorney Stephen Nadeau. He would not characterize the infant's injuries, and said that the cause of death and any murder charges were pending results of an autopsy, that was to be conducted on Friday.
However, court documents cited by the Standard Times newspaper of New Bedford indicated that Harrison was angered when the baby became "fussy", and dropped her to the floor on her head. She reportedly suffered hemorrhaging in the retinas of both eyes, a blood clot on the brain and several bruises.
The district attorney's office said that that Harrison lives with the mother of the deceased infant and is not the child’s biological father.
No plea was entered at Harrison's arraignment at District Court in New Bedford, and he was ordered held on prior, unrelated charges stemming from another case.
