Police are investigating the death of a 10-month-old girl in Brooklyn who may have briefly been left alone in a bathtub with her older brother, according to neighbors and law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
Authorities responding to a 911 call at the home on Henry Street in Red Hook Sunday night found little Meilani Hernandez unconscious.
She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police say there were no outward signs of trauma observed, and sources familiar with the investigation say the child may have been left unattended in a bathtub.
Authorities say both parents were home at the time of the baby's death. Neighbors tell NBC 4 New York the baby and her 3-year-old brother were in the bathtub together; they said the children's parents knocked on one of their doors and the family inside helped give the little girl CPR.
One set of neighbors took the parents and unconscious child to the hospital, while another group dressed the 3-year-old and took him to the hospital to reunite with his family, neighbors said.
Yvette Espineal said that the child had good parents and that she and her family broke down upon hearing about the baby's death.
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"My next-door neighbor came in and told us she didn't make it and everybody started crying because it hurt so much knowing that a 10-month-old baby drowned," she said.
Police are questioning the parents, whom tearful neighbors described as "loving."
No arrests have been made, and no one was at the home when NBC 4 New York knocked on the door Monday.
