Baby dies at Levittown day care, cops say

Police said they responded to a call from the day care owner at 12:47 p.m. reporting a baby not breathing at 74 Pond Lane, a house in a residential neighborhood where the Kay Shriver day care center is located.

Emergency responders found the baby, a 4-month-old boy from Syosset whose name has not been released, in a "cyanotic state," said Nassau police spokesman Vincent Garcia, referring to a discoloration of the skin.

Karen Shriver, the owner of the licensed day care center, had already performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the baby, Garcia said, and police continued to perform CPR.

The baby was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where he was pronounced dead at 1:08 p.m.

"Preliminary indications are that there was no apparent criminality involved," Garcia said.

Police said Shriver told them she put the baby down to sleep at 11 a.m. and checked on him at noon. She noticed nothing out of the ordinary, police said. When she checked again, at 12:30 p.m., the baby showed signs of discoloration.

Pat Cantiello, a spokeswoman for the New York State Office of Children and Family Services in Albany, said the facility is licensed with the state as Kay Shriver Inc.

The day care, which according to police has been open for 14 years, had two uncorrected violations from a July inspection over someone working there not having been checked against criminal history and child-abuse and maltreatment databases. Cantiello said the center has not had its license suspended or revoked.

Shriver could not be reached for comment Thursday.