The criminal charge filed Wednesday, Dec. 11 was the result of that investigation and consultation with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
La-Quanaya Ward, 29, who resides at the Coachman Family Center on East Post Road in White Plains, was taken into custody on Wednesday, Nov. 11, after she was released from a Westchester hospital, said Kieran O'Leary, spokesman for the Westchester County Police.
Ward had been admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, Dec. 4, after officers responded to the shelter the previous night on a report that a female resident was in an emotional crisis and threatening to harm her children, O'Leary said.
During an investigation, detectives determined that Ward held her 2-year-old son underwater in the tub until another resident intervened and rescued the child, he said.
That resident and others came to the woman’s room after hearing her making a commotion and contacted police.
Officers who responded located Ward as well as her two children, ages 1 and 2, elsewhere in the facility.
She was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. Westchester County Child Protectives Services responded and placed the children in emergency foster care, O'Leary said.
The investigation was turned over to detectives from the General Investigations Unit, assisted by the Forensic Investigations Unit.
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