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Mom Accused of Dropping Baby From Parking Garage Couldn't Handle Her Son's Disability, Husband Says
Sonia Hermosillo (Orange PD)
Sonia Hermosillo, the La Habra mother accused of throwing her infant son from a parking garage, couldn't accept her son's disability, her husband told The Orange County Register.
"She didn't look at our son as normal," Hermosillo's husband Noe Medina said. "She didn't accept him. She didn't accept that he was like this."
The baby was born with congenital muscular torticollis — a twisting of the neck to one side — and he wore a helmet to correct his plagiocephaly, also known as flat-head syndrome. The baby Noe Medina Jr. had been receiving physical therapy every Tuesday and Thursday at Children's Hospital of Orange County and was showing signs of improvement.
Neighbor Sonia Herrera told the Associated Press that Hermosillo was a normal, loving mother to her daughters and was excited to be pregnant with a son. But the 31-year-old mother changed suddenly after her son was born. She had been bubbly before, but afterward she hardly spoke. Herrera suspected that Hermosillo was suffering from postpartum depression.
"She was different. She was serious," Herrera told AP. "I asked her many questions, and she just said 'Yes' or 'No.'"
Hermosillo, meanwhile, was hospitalized for postpartum depression in June. She is now on a suicide watch and an immigration hold. The baby, 7-month-old Noe Medina Jr., is hospitalized in critical condition, and there is a fear he may not make it.
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