A Minnesota hospital video camera allegedly captured a woman pinching her infant son's nose and covering his mouth until he could not breathe.
The 5-month-old boy "kicked frantically" before going limp, according to a St. Paul police incident report sent to The Huffington Post. The suffocation allegedly lasted 45 seconds.
The Pioneer Press reports that Katie Lewis was charged with assault, endangerment of a child and domestic assault by strangulation after the alleged incident on May 2.
Lewis had brought her son to the hospital claiming that he would sometimes stop breathing, turn blue, and then regain consciousness, the report said. After running a number of tests, hospital staff told Lewis they couldn't find anything wrong with her baby and he would be released.
It was then that a nurse, watching the video camera in Lewis' room, saw her cover the baby's nose and mouth, the report says.
Lewis is quoted in the police report allegedly telling cops she "snapped" and that she wanted her baby to "do something" so medical staff could "find something" and help the boy more quickly.
"This is a sad and terrifying act by a mother against her infant son,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a news release sent to HuffPost. "Thankfully a quick-acting hospital staffer stepped in to stop the assault, and now the infant is in good condition and in a secure location."