Foster families brawl at Silver Cross over baby's death: cops

Two foster families fought at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox after a 6-month-old baby died under mysterious circumstances, officials said.

The baby girl was unresponsive and not breathing when she was brought to the hospital’s emergency room from Tinley Park Friday night, said New Lenox Police Chief April DiSandro.

The child lived with two different foster families, DiSandro said. The foster family she was staying with Friday night brought the baby to the hospital, she said, and the second family arrived later as well.

Soon after, a “huge fight” broke out, DiSandro said, with one family attempting to keep the other family out of the emergency room.

One of the combatants, 18-year-old Antrone Dean of Chicago, was armed with a tire iron and fought with a hospital security guard, the chief said, and a second rammed a vehicle in the parking lot before fleeing.

The driver who rammed a car remains at large, DiSandro said, but Dean and a female juvenile were arrested at the hospital.

Dean was taken into custody on probable cause of aggravated battery, records show, and he was booked into the Will County jail shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday.

Dean was released from custody Saturday afternoon on $10,000 bond, records show.

The female juvenile was arrested for elbowing a police officer in the mouth and leaving him with a fat lip, DiSandro said.

The Will County Coroner’s Office provided no information on the baby’s death.

“We don’t do this until we get formal determination back,” said Deputy Chief Coroner Laurie Summers, adding that this could take as long as six weeks.

Summers declined to comment when asked if the coroner’s office would not have identified or released any information on the April 2016 death of 17-month-old Sema’j Crosby in Joliet Township.

Sema’j’s cause of death – homicide by asphyxiation – remained undetermined for nearly five months.

“That was before my time,” Summers said of the Sema’j case.

Summers also said the coroner’s office now only releases information on “motor vehicle accidents, homicides or drownings, or something like that.”

Summers did say a deputy coroner was at the hospital.

“My concern was for my deputy coroner,” she said.

The Tinley Park Police Department was investigating the baby’s death. A receptionist with the department’s records section said no information was being released.

“Right now it’s pending investigation,” she said. “There’s no further comment.”

Deborah Lopez of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said her agency is also investigating the baby’s death.