Day care owner charged after alleged baby hanging
MINNEAPOLIS -- A 42-year-old Minneapolis woman is facing several charges after allegedly hanging a child at her daycare and hitting a bicyclist and a pedestrian while fleeing authorities last Friday, CBS Minnesota reports.
Nataliia Karia has been charged with attempted murder, third-degree assault and two counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the incident, which happened last Friday.
According to a criminal complaint, Minneapolis police responded at about 9:44 a.m. to a report that a child had been hanged at a home daycare in Minneapolis. When officers arrived, they learned Karia was operating a home daycare and a 16-month-old baby was receiving medical treatment. The baby was crying and had visible neck injuries.
The baby’s mother told police she dropped her son off at about 8:50 a.m. that morning and that the baby started going there about three weeks ago. An adult male told police he brought his 3-year-old child to the daycare that morning and when he arrived, Karia told him she “couldn’t take it anymore.”
The complaint states she told him to look at what she did and they went to the basement. The man could hear the baby crying and upon entering the basement, saw the baby hanging from a noose attached to the ceiling. He pulled the baby down from the noose and left the residence. He called his wife, who called 911. She also went to the daycare to tend to the other children until authorities arrived.
Karia fled the residence in her minivan and headed eastbound on West 28th Street. The complaint states she rear-ended a vehicle stopped at a red light, hit a pedestrian who had gotten out of his car to check drivers in the crash and dragged him for more than 10 blocks. She ran a red light and hit a bicyclist.
Several witnesses tried to physical stop her car after she hit the cyclist, according to the complaint. She eventually stopped at Park Avenue and 18th Street, where she got out of the minivan and tried to jump off a nearby bridge onto the freeway below. She was restrained by civilians until police arrived.
The other driver she hit suffered a broken ankle, broken ribs and multiple abrasions. The bicyclist suffered a severely broken leg that required surgery.
The baby was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center to be treated in the pediatric intensive care unit.
Karia is being held at HCMC and could face more than 30 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
