Police detained a 34-year-old woman in Florida after allegedly killing her special needs daughter while she was admitted to the hospital being treated for an infection.
According to Pensacola Police, when Jasmine Singletary arrived at Pensacola’s Sacred Heart Hospital on 8 July, her ribs and liver were good.
However, an autopsy revealed that Jasmine, who had a neuromuscular disease, died from major injuries to her ribs and liver, which were reportedly sustained while she was in her hospital bed, police said.
The statement shows that Jasmine was infected and admitted for treatment. Jasmine lost awareness and unintendedly ceased breathing a few days later, on July 13. The unresponsive girl was proclaimed dead after multiple attempts to revive her.
According to reports, Jasmine’s mom, Jessica Bortle, was believed to be in the room when her daughter stopped breathing.
“The Medical Examiner indicated that the injuries were so severe that Jasmine would have died only minutes after receiving them and that they had to have occurred while Jasmine was confined to her hospital bed,” the statement read.
During their inquiry, detectives established that Bortle had fatally wounded Jasmine, so they charged her with manslaughter.
According to a copy of Bortle’s arrest report, which KATV and NorthEscambia.com obtained, Bortle admitted that she “slammed the hospital table into Singletary’s abdomen and then leaned onto the table with her weight.”
Bortle told police that she was upset with Jasmine after they got into an argument about her breaking crayons.
The grandmother was also allegedly present in the room when the girl was being injured, and the police reported the incident to be identical to Bortle’s. She faces no accusations and is a police witness.
