Mom Sought In North Bergen Child Abuse Case Apprehended In NYC

NORTH BERGEN, NJ — The mother who was wanted by police for "gravely" injuring her 3-year-old daughter in a North Bergen motel has been located and taken into police custody.

Shaqwana Baker, 21, was arrested shortly before noon Wednesday by members of the NYPD and U.S. Marshals, said Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez. She was apprehended at West 37th Street and 10th Avenue in New York City.

She and her boyfriend, Edward Smith, 29, of Far Rockaway, are both charged with aggravated assault and two counts of child endangerment.

The boyfriend was in police custody, but the mother had been on the run, and police said she had recently been spotted in Secaucus and North Bergen.

Her daughter, 3, remains in the ICU at Bellevue Hospital. Her injuries are expected to be permanent and life altering, said the prosecutor.

On Jan. 23, the New York City Police Department was notified by NYU Langone Hospital that Baker brought her 3-year-old daughter to the facility with life-threatening injuries. The child was later transported to the pediatric ICU at Bellevue, where she continues to receive medical treatment.

An investigation by the NYPD and Hudson County Special Victims Unit determined the 3-year-old girl was the victim of child abuse and was injured while staying at a North Bergen motel with her mother and mother's boyfriend.

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