Baby left in the bath now on life support
Girl’s father arrested; BCSO says he was distracted by videos
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man who they said let his 8-month-old daughter nearly drown when he left her unattended in the bathtub while he watched YouTube videos Friday night.
Mark Ramirez, 33, was booked into the county jail Saturday. He is charged with abandonment or abuse of a child with great bodily harm. The baby, referred to only as CR, was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital and was on life support.
BCSO spokeswoman Felicia Maggard said CR is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, but she would not say what her condition was Monday.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, around 10:45 p.m. Friday, detectives were called to North De Baca Circle SW, near Isleta and Arenal, for a baby who had nearly drowned.
“Initial investigation by responding deputies advised Mark Ramirez had left the child unattended inside of a bathtub for an unknown amount of time,” a detective wrote in the complaint. “The child was unconscious and not breathing during the initial assessment.”
Ramirez told detectives he had put the baby in the bathtub and began filling it with water. He said he then left CR in the tub and went to the living room where he became distracted while watching videos on YouTube, according to the complaint. When he remembered CR was in the bathtub, he found her floating with the water filled to the top and tried to do CPR.
Although medical personnel were able to start the baby’s pulse and hook her up to a ventilator, she was unresponsive to stimuli and not waking up, according to the complaint. CR is in the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, said Henry Varela, the department’s spokesman, and they are monitoring her condition at the hospital.
When detectives searched Ramirez’s home, they seized drug paraphernalia, according to the complaint.