NEWBURGH – Newburgh City Police are continuing to investigate the cause of death of a seven-year-old boy who was brought to Montefiore St. Luke’s Hospital Wednesday morning.
Police said Thursday that they will not speculate on the cause of death because it would be premature to do so. That will be determined following a post-mortem by the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office.
District Attorney David Hoovler told Mid-Hudson News that the death is being investigated as “neglect and a potential crime.”
Mayor Torrance Harvey is emotionally torn up over the child’s death.
“The Bible talks about the kids, protect the children. This is horrible. Anybody that has a decent heart knows you can’t harm the children,” he said.
Natasha Dennis is a grandmother of seven, and she said as a Newburgh resident, all children are hers.
“They need to pay attention. Something really severely happened to that child. The need to go after everybody, next door, find out from the children; the whole nine,” she said.
The child was a student at the Temple Hill Elementary School and as of late Thursday afternoon, the Newburgh school district has not issued any statement concerning the child’s death and if there was grief counseling available for students and staff at the school. A district spokeswoman also did not return a call for comment.
