A judge dismissed a misdemeanor criminal charge against a New York nurse whose trial was set to begin this week after she was accused of manhandling a newborn baby in an incident that was caught on video last year by an alert parent at Good Samaritan Hospital.
During a preliminary hearing, the defense asked for a dismissal, and prosecutors with the Suffolk County district attorney’s office admitted they could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, allowing Amanda Burke to walk free on March 25, the day her trial was to begin and more than a year after she was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Burke was fired the same day of the February 2023 incident, which shocked the Long Island community when video emerged of the nurse roughing up a newborn baby.
A father recorded her through a window of Good Samaritan’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where he witnessed the nurse slamming his 2-day-old son face down into his bassinet, according to the Suffolk County district attorney.
Burke later admitted to mishandling the baby when she flipped the infant by its diaper, but denied that she intended to abuse or hurt the child.
On Monday, defense attorney Robert Gottlieb welcomed the dismissal after maintaining Burke’s innocence since he took her case in February 2023, saying, “Amanda should never have been charged.”
“The most they could say was that turning the baby over by the diaper was negligence, but it didn’t even rise to the level to issue a warning to sanction her in any way, and the case was closed,” Gottlieb explained, noting that the baby wasn’t harmed during the incident.
“The baby was cleared, was not injured, did not even react. Did not even cry,” Gottlieb said.
Following the judge’s decision, Burke hugged her lawyer and family members, and expressed relief that her ordeal was finally over.
“I’m just happy it’s over,” she said, describing some of the struggles she’s dealt with over the past year while facing serious criminal charges. “It was a nightmare. I was harassed. People at my door, emails. I have an 8-year-old. I felt like she was in danger. It was a nightmare.”
Burke said she felt confident from the start that she would be exonerated.
“I never questioned myself. Things happen in the hospital every day,” she said.
During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors shared that a child advocacy expert was “profoundly disgusted and shocked” over Burke’s rough handling of the child, but ultimately concluded that the nurse did not intend to harm the infant.
“Unfortunately, despite the disturbing video … the NYS Department of Licensing found the defendant did not act with gross negligence,” the Suffolk County DA said in a statement. “As such, we could not prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The outcome of the case did not sit well with the family of Fidel Sinclair and Consuelo Saravia, the parents who claimed Burke abused their newborn son, Nikko.
While Gottlieb praised Burke as a “great person,” family members of the purported victim expressed anger at the judge for letting Burke off the hook.
“We are very upset with this disgusting situation and decision… about my grandson and this awful woman still working as a caregiver,” the baby’s grandmother said, according to reports.
There were no security cameras in the ward, so the incident would likely have never come to light if Sinclair had not been standing outside the room filming his son.
The boy was ultimately discharged from the hospital and is reportedly growing up in good health.
Burke still has her license to practice and is currently working as a registered nurse, but is barred from employment with Catholic Health, which operates the facility where she was fired.
The parents never filed a civil lawsuit in the matter.
