The estranged daughter of MLB Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley allegedly likened abandoning her newborn baby in freezing weather to a plane crash — saying she was trying to save herself first.
“What do they tell you when a plane goes down? Save yourself first,” Alexandra Eckersley told officers, according to a police affidavit cited by the Boston Herald.
She gave the bizarre answer when asked why she had left her unclothed baby boy in a tent in 18-degree weather as she waited for an ambulance.
Eckersley, 26, who remains hospitalized, faces charges of felony reckless conduct, endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree assault with extreme indifference and falsifying physical evidence.
She told investigators she did not know she was pregnant and admitted to using cocaine and marijuana in the days before giving birth in New Hampshire woods about 1 a.m. Monday.
Alexandra Eckersley has been charged with felony reckless conduct, endangering the welfare of a child, and counts of second-degree assault with extreme indifference and falsifying physical evidence. Manchester NH Police
Manchester police found the uncovered baby, who was struggling to breathe, near the Piscataquog River, officials said.
It also emerged that Eckersley and her boyfriend – identified in court papers as 45-year-old George Theberge – also decided to turn off a propane heater in the tent as they waited for medical personnel, the outlet reported, citing the police affidavit.
The woman was described as likely on drugs, unsteady on her feet and thrashing as police tried to get her to say where the baby was after she called 911.
Officers responded to a report of a woman who had given birth to a baby in a tent in the woods near the West Side Arena in Manchester. WCVB
Her public defender, Jordan Strand, said in New Hampshire’s Hillsborough County Superior Court that she did everything she could while suffering from blood loss and possible hypothermia after giving birth.
“She did what she had to do to get help. Childbirth is incredibly dangerous even under the best of circumstances,” Strand said.
EMS performed emergency breathing on the baby, who was initially taken to Catholic Medical Center and then transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where he remains intubated, Assistant County Attorney Carl Olson said.
Police found the uncovered baby, who was struggling to breathe near the Piscataquog River as the weather dropped to 18 degrees, officials said. Jeffrey Hastings
The baby reportedly weighed 4.4 pounds after being born about three months early.
Eckersley apparently “had no idea where the child may be” when police arrived and helped in the search, according to the affidavit filed in court on Tuesday.
Officers called in the New Hampshire State Police cadaver dogs, believing the child may have been dead, according to the document.
Prosecutors said Eckersley’s parents, MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley (above) and his wife, Nancy, offered their homeless daughter drug treatment for years but she refused. Getty Images
The area where the newborn was found – in a small tent inside a bigger one — had a large amount of blood and several blankets, the affidavit reportedly states.
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Eckersley told police that the baby cried for less than a minute after birth, and Theberge believed the baby didn’t have a pulse.
She told cops she was worried about losing her tent, the news outlet reported.
“Eckersley was stating that it is very hard to survive if they had lost their tent because of the cold temperatures during the winter in Manchester,” the affidavit says.
Eckersley also said she and her boyfriend decided to tell cops that she had given birth at some athletic fields so they would not find the tent.
After she pleaded not guilty, Judge Diane Nicolosi set bail at $3,000 cash and imposed several conditions, including that Eckersley cannot have any contact with her son and that she must live at a sober living facility or with her parent or another residence approved by the state or court.
Authorities also said they expect to charge Theberge in the case.
Prosecutors said Eckersley mother, Nancy, told them that she and Dennis, her ex-husband, offered their daughter drug treatment for years, but she refused and chose to be homeless.