Coachman Family Center Resident Charged with Attempted Murder of Her Baby
Westchester County Police charged a resident of the Coachman Family Center in White Plains with attempted murder today after determining she tried to drown her infant son in a bathtub last week.
La-Quanaya Ward, 29, a resident of the family shelter at 123 E. Post Rd,, was taken into custody on the morning of Dec. 11 after she was released from a hospital in the county. According to county police, she had been admitted to the hospital one week earlier after officers responded to the shelter the previous night on a report that a female resident was in emotional crisis and threatening to harm her children.
During their investigation, county police detectives determined that Ward held her two-year-old son under water in the tub until another resident intervened and rescued the baby, according to county police. The resident who rescued the infant and others came to the woman’s room after hearing her making a commotion there, according to the police.
Officers who responded at 10:26 p.m. on Dec. 11 located Ward and her two children, ages one and two years old elsewhere in the facility, according to the state police. Ward was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. Westchester County Child Protectives Services responded and placed the children in emergency foster care.
The investigation was turned over to detectives from the General Investigations Unit, assisted by the Forensic Investigations Unit of the county police department. The criminal charge filed on Dec. 11 against Ward was the result of that investigation and consultation with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
Ward will be arraigned in White Plains City Court.
