A Virginia nurse has been arrested after several babies in a hospital's neonatal intensive care unit suffered "unexplainable fractures."
According to Fox News, 26-year-old Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman, a nurse at Henrico Doctors' Hospital in Richmond, was charged with malicious wounding and child abuse that caused serious injury in connection to one newborn who was left with a fracture in November. She was booked into Henrico County Jail on Friday (January 3).
Authorities are still investigating a string of injuries to babies in the hospital's NICU that occurred in November and December.
"In late November/December, we discovered that three babies in our Henrico Doctors’ Hospital NICU had unexplainable fractures, similar to an incident involving four babies in the summer of 2023," the hospital said in a statement.
One of the victims' fathers, Dominique Hackey, who is Black, came forward with his story last month, saying his son suffered a mysterious fracture to his tibia in September 2023. His family reported the incident to social services.
After a year, Henrico Child Protective Services concluded that Hackey's son was a victim of physical abuse from an unidentified hospital staffer. County police later told the family about other, similar cases.
"Finally we can get some answers as to who abused our son. I wish I could say it was a happy moment learning of her arrest, however, learning the details involving the other babies, the only feeling I have is sadness and regret," Hackey said. "I am heartbroken to learn the degree in what this person was allowed to get away with, and regret that I should’ve spoke up sooner in hopes to prevent other children from getting hurt. "
The hospital announced that it was shutting down its NICU to new patients on December 24 in the wake of the three latest incidents.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we are not admitting any additional babies into our NICU at this time," the hospital said on Christmas Eve. "While fractures occasionally happen with pre-term babies since they lack full fetal bone development, we are actively working to determine how these fractures occurred."
Charges haven't been filed in Hackey's case, but police said they are actively collecting evidence and have reopened several closed cases.
"We appreciate the families’ and public’s patience as we work as thoroughly and expeditiously as possible to investigate every piece of evidence in connection to these cases," Henrico Chief of Police Eric English said in a statement. "I would also like to acknowledge the unwavering efforts of our detectives who continue to comb through hundreds of hours of footage and extend my sincere gratitude to Henrico’s Child Protective Services (Department of Social Services), the Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Health, and the Office of the Attorney General for their assistance in this matter."
Comedian DL Hughley shared information about the case in a post on Instagram. See his post below.
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