A 24-year-old babysitter from Hamden has been arrested for tossing an eight-month-old girl in a dumpster in New Haven and assaulting the woman's mother.
Andiana Velez, is being held on a bond of $500,000 on charges of risk of injury to a child, second-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment.
Baby was Shivering, Found with Burns on Her Body
The infant was found in a dumpster with burns on her body and is now in a stable condition at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital. Authorities are still trying to determine how the baby suffered the injuries on both her hands.
The child was found inside the dumpster by a maintenance worker on Monday afternoon after hearing the baby's cries and immediately got the baby out before wrapping the shivering child with a blanket.
"I was shocked. I just threw the blanket away because every time I look at the blanket, I keep thinking about the baby," Perry Dennis, the maintenance worker said.
"She was shivering like crazy when I got her in my arms," said another maintenance worker who helped Dennis get the baby out. "Whoever did that to her, they should be punished severely. Total disregard for life. I'll never forget it," he added.
Mother Stabbed by Babysitter
According to the baby's 21-year-old mother, she went to pick up her daughter from Velez, who had been watching her for a number of days, from a gas station on Ella Grasso Boulevard, when the babysitter pulled out a knife and the two of them got into a fight. Velez allegedly stabbed the child's mother before fleeing on foot.
Velez, on the other hand, claims the mother pulled the knife on her after she questioned her about her daughter's burn injuries.Velez allegedly told police she drove to the apartment complex to buy marijuana since she was stressed, and she left the little girl in the dumpster because she knew someone would find her.
"It's scary thinking what type of person would do something like that. It's hard to believe someone would do that," Dennis said.
