Monsey toddler drowned in toilet, officials say
Photo credit: Angela Gaul | The home of Mendi Altman, a 1-year-old who drowned in the toilet bowl of a Brooklyn apartment, in Monsey. (Sept. 18, 2012)
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A 1-year-old Monsey boy found facedown and unconscious in his aunt's toilet in Brooklyn early Tuesday morning died of an accidental drowning, officials said.
The child, Mendi Altman of David Court in the heavily Orthodox Jewish Monsey community, was taken from his aunt's second-floor apartment on 11th Avenue in Borough Park and driven to Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday, according to New York City police. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office, said the death was ruled an accidental drowning. Her office performed an external examination and not a full autopsy, which is anathema to Orthodox Jews, who object to disfiguring the human body.
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Police said no crime is suspected, but an investigation into the death is under way.
Efforts to contact the boy's family were unsuccessful.
