Day care reopens after baby's death

CINCINNATI - The Hamilton County Coroner's office has completed the autopsy of a 6-month-old baby girl who was being cared for by workers at a Clifton day care just prior to being rushed to a firehouse Tuesday afternoon for medical attention.

However, the coroner's office says the results of the autopsy will not be released until Coroner, Dr. O'dell Owens returns to town.

In the meantime, a 9-1-1 call reveals new details about the infant's final hours at The Willow Tree House Child Day Care Center in the 200 block of Ludlow Avenue.

The caller identified herself as an employee at the day care center when she called 9-1-1 for help saying that another worker had rushed the baby to a nearby fire house because 9-1-1 took too long to answer the phone.

Dispatch: "Cincinnati 911. Where's your emergency?"

Caller: "Yeah, you guys took too freaking long. We are a day care and one of the babies, they were taking a nap, we left."

Caller: "We checked on her and now she's blue. But my mom just ran her down to the fire station down the street."

Dispatch: "We got a lot of calls coming in."

Caller: "I'm sure you do. Whatever but I'm just letting you know that she's taking a blue baby down the street."

An employee at Children's Hospital also called 9-1-1 reporting the baby's death.

The emergency room worker explained that the child care worker told firefighters that she couldn't ride to the hospital with the baby because she had to return to the center to call the infant's mother.

The baby was pronounced dead at Children's Hospital shortly after arriving there around 4 p.m. Tuesday. 9 News was told that the baby girl went in to cardiac arrest.

An unidentified worker at the day care center, when asked for a comment by phone about the baby's death, said "not right now" with sadness in her voice.

The emergency room worker says the mother arrived at the hospital a short time later.

The Cincinnati Fire Department said it can't release information about the incident because of privacy issues in regards to medical information.

Police said the death has been classified as "other" until the coroner releases an official cause.