Grilled cheese sandwich suspected in 3-year-old’s death

Family says staff at school knew child had dairy allergies.

New York City officials have closed a preschool in Harlem where a young boy with a severe food allergy died after being given a grilled cheese sandwich.

Investigators were at the preschool on Thursday to review the sequence of events. Elijah Silvera’s family said staff knew the 3-yearold was severely allergic to dairy products.

Elijah went into anaphylactic shock after he ate the sandwich last Friday, his family wrote online. He was taken to the emergency room at Harlem Hospital, where he died.

“He was given a grilled cheese sandwich by an adult at the pre-K, despite them knowing and having documented that he has a severe allergy to dairy,” the family said in a statement on the Go Fund Me site. As of Thursday, more than $27,000 had been raised via the site - money to be used in part for an independent autopsy, they wrote.

“It is unclear where responsibility for Elijah’s death will fall between the pre-K and the hospital itself,” the statement said.

“There are protocols that both the hospital and preschool must follow. We want to find out exactly what caused Elijah’s death and that will mean sorting out exactly where, if any, breakdowns may have occurred at either the school or the hospital. We just want justice for Elijah.”

The school, Seventh Avenue Center for Family Services, referred all questions to the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), which oversees Head Start programs serving low-income and culturally diverse families.

The department tweeted Thursday that it was “actively investigating all aspects” of the Harlem program.

“There is nothing more important than the safety of our children, and we are deeply saddened by this tragedy,” a spokesman for the city Health & Mental Hygiene Department said in an afternoon statement.