Charges: Drunk Mother Suffocated Baby While Asleep
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- A mother is accused of accidentally killing her infant son, who investigators say suffocated when she rolled onto him while drunk.
Twenty-nine-year-old Toni Medrano, of Cottage Grove, has been charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter in the Nov. 22 death of her 3-week-old son.
According to the criminal complaint, Medrano came home that day after having consumed a fifth of vodka and went to sleep on the couch. Her son was lying between her and the back of the couch, police said.
She awoke the next morning to find the child unresponsive and screamed to awaken the child's father, "The baby is dead!"
The baby's father called 911 and tried to revive the child, but to no avail.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's office listed the official cause of death as "asphyxia due to being laid upon while sleeping with an adult."
Medrano was measured with a 0.11 blood alcohol content level at 11 a.m. that morning.
If Medrano is convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison.
"Irrespective of the ultimate outcome in this matter, I hope that valuable lessons can be learned from these very tragic circumstances," said Washington County Attorney Pete Orput.
