New York Nanny Arrested For Shoving Baby Wipes Down Infant's Throat

A detective from the New York Police Department (NYPD) said he arrested nanny Marianne Benjamin-Williams for shoving a baby wipe down the throat of a two-month-old boy on May 18. Detective Christopher Shaw said he made the arrest after it became evident that the 45-year-old Benjamin-Williams was the only person to have committed the act, a report stated.

Shaw said doctors at the Bellevue Hospital informed the police about a baby named Maxwell who had to undergo a surgery after a rolled-up wipe got stuck in his throat. The wipe had to be surgically removed. During the investigation, a doctor told Shaw that there was nobody with Maxwell at the time of the incident other than his 14-month-old sister and their nanny, which suggests she could have possibly committed the crime. The incident took place at the family's Waterside Plaza home in New York.

"She informed me the object that was lodged in his throat was deliberately placed," Shaw testified at a pretrial hearing Monday in the Manhattan Supreme Court, according to the New York Daily News.

While being questioned by the police, Benjamin-Williams told them: "He's choking," adding that "He likes to chew on baby wipes," according to a report.

It was only later that the doctors determined the baby wipes were forced down Maxwell's throat and it was not an accident.

According to court documents, Maxwell's sister did not have the motor skills to be able to roll a ball of paper and shove it into his mouth.

Meanwhile, Leonard Levenson, Benjamin-William's lawyer argued that his client had, in fact, tried hard to save the baby the moment she realized that he was choking. Levenson also tried to defend Benjamin-Williams by saying that the family she worked for adored her and that the baby "must have" swallowed the gauze on his own, the New York Daily News reported.

The nanny has been indicted for attempted murder, assault, strangulation, reckless endangerment, possession of a forged instrument, and endangering the welfare of a child.

After PIX 11 shared the news on Facebook in June, a number of people expressed their outrage over the nanny's actions. A Facebook user commented on the news saying: "Why do people with no patience want to work with children?! I really don't get it. There are other jobs where you don't even have to interact with anyone! I hope the baby is OK. Lock her up and throw away the key!"

Another user wrote: "Visit the parks on Upper Westside of Manhattan and you will see worse. People have taken pictures, videos to show police whats going on. And they never do anything. Go to the park on 77th & Amsterdam, Riverside Park, Dinosaur Park on 96th St. They are always on their cell phones never watch the kids and then get angry when the children want something."

This is not the first incident where children have been hurt by their nannies. In 2012, a nanny killed two children because she was underpaid and forced to do household chores by the toddlers' parents, NY Daily News reported at the time.