Baby dies from brain bleed, severe injuries after court rules she can stay with abusive parents
A 1-year-old baby has lost her brief life to brain hemorrhage and other severe injuries after a judge ruled that she and her brother can remain under the care of their abusive parents.
According to a report by The New York Times, Ella Vitalis' death comes a day after she and her 2-year-old brother Liam were ruled by Judge Erik S. Pitchal of Kings County Court to return to their parents after being in foster care until June.
Based on the court documents obtained by Times, the children were taken into foster care with family members due to a "substantiated finding of abuse last year."
The maltreatment was first discovered when Ella sustained several injuries—a fractured skull, small brain hemorrhage, and two broken ankles—when she was only three weeks old.
Ella sustained the injuries following an argument between her 29-year-old mother, Lafayette Browne, and 28-year-old father, Johnson Vitalis. At that time, Browne allegedly pushed Vitalis into a wall, with Liam in his arms. The toddler did not sustain any injuries.
Another incident followed in September 2022, when Ella was left alone with Vitalis and the baby was found "with a moderate amount of blood in her mouth" caused by a tongue laceration.
Times reported that Ella was then hospitalized, with the doctor saying that "a sharp object must have been used to cause that level of harm."
A year after the incident, on Sept. 14, 2023, the Kings County Court removed the children from foster care and returned them to Browne and Vitalis' custody. The parents were then ordered by the court to plan a "visitation agreement" with the children's maternal grandmother.
It was only a day later that Ella was once again brought to the hospital but this time, for her last confinement. The 1-year-old had a blunt-force injury on her head, an eyelid that was swollen, and a forehead with bruises and cuts. Times reported that the infant also had "what appeared to be" a broken jaw and bite marks.
The reason for this, according to Browne, was that Ella was drinking too much milk while her father was feeding her. Ella was later placed on life support and died on Sept. 20 in Brooklyn, New York.
The Administration for Children's Services (ACS), meanwhile, told PEOPLE Magazine that it is "investigating this tragedy with the NYPD," with the safety and well-being of the city's children as its "top priority."