The adopted daughter of Dennis Eckersley, a former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Baseball Hall of Famer, was arrested by police after they found her newborn baby freezing alone in a dark tent in a wooded area in New Hampshire with no clothes on Sunday night.
Police arraigned 26-year-old Alexandra Eckersley in a Hillsboro court on Tuesday to answer several charges, including endangering a child, reckless conduct, second-degree assault, and providing police with false physical evidence.
The Manchester Fire Department received reports about an emergency in the woods at around 12:30 am on Monday. Officers quickly responded and found a woman after she had birthed a child in a tent in a wooded area near Manchester’s West Side Arena in the cold.
Emergency workers went on a wild goose chase for about an hour after receiving the wrong directions from Eckersley. According to Ryan Cashin, the Manchester Fire Chief, they could not locate the baby and worried with each passing second.
The Manchester Fire Departments Deputy Chief, David Flurey, identified the mother of the newborn baby as the adopted daughter of Dennis Eckersley, who is a Major League Basketball Hall of Fame pitcher. The officer said that after the police had searched for an hour, Eckersley finally revealed to them the exact location of the newborn after she had lied to them.
According to Fire Chief Cashin, when officers got to the scene, the child’s mother gave them several directions to where the baby might be. Eckersley told them that she couldn’t recall where she left the baby, and officers searched several places before Eckersley finally told them that she had left the baby in a tent she was living in.
Officers found the baby unclothed and uncovered on the tent floor at Electric Street near the Piscataquog River. Officers said the baby was struggling to breathe and they made efforts to make the baby warm before transporting the child to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The spokesperson for the Manchester Police Department, Heather Hamel, confirmed that the baby had been born a few hours earlier. Officers noted that when they rescued the baby, temperatures were about 18 degrees and eventually plunged to 6 degrees.
Fire Chief Cashin said that as soon as they found the baby, they handed it to members of the Fire Department and the American Medical Response, and they warmed the baby up and drove to a nearby hospital. He noted that the swift response saved the newborn’s life.
According to an affidavit, Eckersley told EMTs that she did not know she was pregnant and realized it when she felt the need to use the bathroom. She said that she gave birth late Christmas night.
When asked why she abandoned her baby, Eckersley said that when a plane goes down, you save yourself first. Police also said in the document that she appeared to be on drugs.
The New Hampshire Fire Department announced that a baby up to a week old could be left at their fire station anonymously – giving desperate mothers an option to keep their newborns alive.
In October, Dennis Eckersley announced his retirement after 19 years. He played 24 seasons and pitched for the Red Sox, the Indians, Athletics, and Cubs from 1975 to 1998. In 2004, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.