WORCESTER—A Worcester man is facing charges after first responders found his daughter unresponsive at their Sever Street home on Tuesday afternoon.
Francisco Ortiz, 34, of Worcester, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of assault and battery on a child with substantial injury, permitting substantial injury to a child, assault and battery, two counts of permitting injury to a child, and reckless endangerment of a child, according to the Worcester County DA’s Office.
Boston 25 News reported that Ortiz told officers that his daughter had fallen from a kitchen table, but the autopsy showed that skull fractures were consistent with a two-story fall.
As reported by WCVB-TV News, the girl was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center but later died. Hospital staff noted multiple bruises on her body, which Ortiz attributed to her falling off the table. However, an autopsy found head injuries consistent with a two-story fall, not a table fall.
Ortiz was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Oct. 23.
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