Jul 16, 2008 4:38 pm US/Eastern
Mother Charged With Poisoning Infant Son
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ―
A mother from Tennessee is in the Allegheny County Jail charged with poisoning her 4-month-old son.
Police say she was caught by hospital workers trying to give sodium to the child.
The suspect, 21-year-old Amber Brewington, is from Duck River, Tennessee, about 65 miles southwest of Nashville.
The child was brought to Pittsburgh to be treated for an illness police say she may have caused.
Police say Brewington was taken to jail after she confessed to trying to poison her son.
"During the investigation, she did have a backpack with her, in which a canister of salt, some Pedialyte and a syringe were found inside the backpack," said Pittsburgh Police Commander Thomas Stangrecki.
The baby was brought to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh on July 9th after doctors at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville sent him here for further treatment of the same illness.
His condition began to improve, but police say it suddenly got worse after Brewington came to visit a few days later.
"An investigation was conducted which revealed that on July 13th, the mother did tamper with the feeding tube and was able to deliver salt water to her child, which put him in critical condition," said Stangrecki.
Hospital officials say last night she tried to give the child more salt, but police were called and Brewington was taken into custody.
Hospital officials say the child is still in critical condition.
Brewington is charged with criminal attempted homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
She has other children but their status is unknown at this time.
Stay with KDKA for more details.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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