Jealousy apparently sparked a 28-year-old man to beat a pregnant woman, causing the death of their baby girl this month on Chicago’s Northwest Side, prosecutors said.
Eric Hernandez was denied bail Wednesday afternoon during a livestreamed bond hearing before Cook County Judge Charles Beach.
“That beating resulted in the death of that child,” Beach said. “Her daughter and your daughter.”
Hernandez is charged with murder and aggravated battery to a pregnant person, police said.
Hernandez and the woman, who have ongoing domestic violence issues, are married but have been separated, prosecutors said. Two of their children were placed in foster care by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services while two others are in the care of relatives.
When she was 26 weeks pregnant with their fifth child, the two went to lunch on the Northwest Side but Hernandez stormed out after they got into an argument at the eatery, according to prosecutors and Chicago police.
She followed him and they got into a black 2011 BMW, where they kept arguing and Hernandez accused her of infidelity. He repeatedly hit her in the face, giving her two black eyes and multiple bruises after parking in the 5200 block of West Grand Avenue.
He began driving again and in the 5400 block of West Grand he stopped and dragged her by the hair from the front passenger seat, slammed her to the ground and kicked her in the back, shoulder, abdomen and rib cage area, according to prosecutors, who said she had to run up stairs to avoid being hit by the car as he sped away, after taking her cellphone and watch.
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The woman, who was experiencing “fetal distress,” flagged down a passing motorist, who took her to a nearby police station. After emergency crews took her to Community First Medical Center, she was transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where doctors began to monitor the baby’s vitals, including her heartbeat, which was “low,” prosecutors said.
She had an emergency C-section later that day, but the baby only survived 20 minutes, said police and prosecutors.
An autopsy by the medical examiner’s office determined the cause of her death was prematurity due to internal blunt force injury from an assault and her death was ruled a homicide, prosecutors said.
Hernandez is a lifelong resident of the Chicago area, lives with his parents and a brother and has been employed for the past year as a general laborer, according to his attorney, who asked Beach to set a “reasonable” bond.
Beach, who called the nature of the attack “heinous and callous,” ordered Hernandez back in court on April 11.