This puppy did not kill a 1-month-old girl at the Queensbridge Houses on Tuesday morning, according to an autopsy. Photos courtesy of Animal Care Centers of NYC
May 29, 2025 By Bill Parry
An autopsy by the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has determined that a family puppy did not cause the death of a 1-month-old baby girl at the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City on Tuesday morning and that the newborn had died from unknown causes.
The NYPD initially suspected that the German Shepherd puppy had caused the toddler’s death by biting her face.
“The cause and manner of death are pending further study and will require additional testing, but the medical examiner has been able to determine this is not a fatal dog mauling,” an OCME spokesperson said Thursday.
Officers from the 114th Precinct in Astoria responded to a 911 call from the infant’s 27-year-old mother just before 6:40 a.m. on May 27. The call led police to the family’s sixth-floor apartment at 41-01 12th St., where they found the baby lying on a bed unconscious and unresponsive, with severe injuries to her face.
Emergency medical services arrived shortly after and pronounced the infant dead at the scene.
According to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation, the baby had been sleeping in bed between her mother and her mother’s partner when the couple awoke to find their German Shepherd puppy chewing on the child’s face.
Police removed the puppy from the home, and it was transported to the Paul A. Vallone Queens Animal Care Center in Ridgewood, where it is currently being sheltered.
A spokeswoman for the Animal Care Centers of NYC declined to comment pending the outcome of the investigation, but the agency did share a video of the puppy in their care, appearing alert and responsive.
An NYPD spokeswoman said Thursday that no charges have been filed, and detectives from the 114th Precinct are continuing their investigation.
Featured Events
