Nurse who ‘broke child’s thigh bone and abused others’ launched from custody
Erin Strotman, 26, was allegedly captured on CCTV footage breaking the thigh bone of a five-month-old baby boy in the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital she worked in
A former neonatal nurse who was accused of abusing seven premature babies has been released from custody. Erin Strotman, 26, was arrested in January after authorities reviewed CCTV footage that allegedly showed her breaking the thigh bone of a five-month-old boy.
The video was recorded in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, US. Four babies were injured in the hospital’s NICU during the summer of 2023.
Despite the hospital installing cameras to monitor employees, three more babies had “unexplainable fractures” in late November and December last year. Strotman, who got her nursing degree in 2019, is facing two felony counts of malicious wounding and child abuse in connection to the abuse of one baby.
The authorities are still investigating the six other incidents of baby abuse, which she is a suspect in. The families of the injured babies were shocked at Strotman’s release as she was initially being held without bond until the judge let her out on a $25,000 (£20k) bond.
‘I think we share the same feeling of anger,’ Dominique Hackey, the dad of a baby who went through the hospital’s NICU in 2023, told ABC 7. ‘This is something that we were prepared for, but obviously we didn’t expect.’
‘We definitely don’t feel like Richmond is safer with her out on the streets… now she’s out on the street celebrating with her family when she’s she’s done something so despicable. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand it,’ Hackey added.
Dominique’s wife Tori gave birth to twins Noah and Micah in August 2023 and horrific X-rays show Noah had a broken tibia after being treated at the hospital.
The judge decided that Strotman was not a flight risk or a threat to herself. The court also sealed Strotman’s mental health assessment and apparently explosive text messages sent to her boyfriend and friends.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
