Bay Shore day care sued for negligence

The Bay Shore day care center that left a 2-year-old girl behind during an outing last week is being sued for negligence.

The suit was filed Tuesday in state Supreme Court in Suffolk County against Our Little Darlings Early Educational Center and its owners, Eugene Marsh and Bernette Bailey-Marsh.

Alexia Zambrotta, of Bay Shore, suffered emotional trauma of a "permanent nature" after being "unescorted and abandoned" for several hours at Heckscher State Park in East Islip on Aug. 14, according to the suit.

"She's clingy," said attorney Jacqueline Siben, who filed the suit on behalf of the girl and her mother. "She needs to hold her mother's hand to go to sleep. But she's a terrifically durable girl."

The day care owners were "careless, reckless and negligent" in hiring "incompetent personnel" who didn't know the girl was missing until hours later, the suit states.

The suit doesn't specify damages.

The day care center owners could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

According to the suit, Christina Karimi, 37, was in shock after being notified first by State Park Police that her daughter had been missing.

The single mom has since taken time off work to recover and arrange for new child care, Siben said.