Daniel Auster, son of the famous American writer Paul Auster, testified this Sunday before the police after being arrested last Friday for the death of an overdose of Ruby, her 10-month-old baby. The 44-year-old man provided shocking details of the little girl's last hours.
According to authorities, on November 1, he injected heroin into his home in Park Slope - a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York - after his wife Zuzan Smith left for work. After drinking, he took a nap with little Ruby.
When she woke up, the ten-month-old baby was “with blue lips and stiff eyes.” Before calling 911, he gave her Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse an opioid overdose, “in case the girl had been exposed to narcotics,” according to the files.
Eventually the paramedics arrived at the house and found the baby unconscious and transferred her to Methodist Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
The city's medical examiners determined that Ruby died of an overdose of fentanyl and heroin, with enough drug in her body to “knock an adult unconscious,” Deputy Prosecutor Tien Tran said at Daniel's appearance in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
However, the local police have not yet determined how the baby ingested the drugs.
Prosecutor Tran added that Auster, who was arrested Friday night and charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide, admitted that he had “packs of heroin” that day he kept in the bathroom.
The defendant also admitted to the authorities that he took heroin that day, although he initially stated that he had not used drugs.
During this Sunday's presentation, in which Auster did not speak, Prosecutor Tran asked Judge John Hecht to pretrial detention on the defendant. Daniel's lawyer, John Godfrey of the Legal Aid Society, asked for “reasonable bail” to be set and told the judge that his client had detoxified.
The judge issued a psychiatric treatment order for Daniel and set his bail at $250,000 insurance, or $100,000 in cash.
“There is extreme recklessness, it is a flight risk due to his drug use,” said Hecht.
No family member of Auster was present at this Sunday's hearing.
Two of Daniel's neighbors told The New York Post that after the baby died, he had taken several of the baby's belongings and items out onto the street for anyone to take. “Everything, the baby clothes, the books, the toys... it was heartbreaking,” said one of the residents who wouldn't say his name.
As a teenager, Auster frequented clubs in New York City and was involved with drugs. At the age of 18, in 1996, when he was 18, Daniel witnessed the murder of the drug dealer named Andre 'Angel' Melendez by Club Kid Killer Michael Alig, who was a nightclub promoter.
Then, Daniel received $3,000 of Melendez's money in exchange for his silence. He later pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property and received five years of probation.
He was arrested on other occasions, including several times for drug possession in 2008 and 2010. In 2009 he was charged with petty theft and possession of stolen property.
Paul Auster is a well-known novelist who has written works such as “A Man in the Dark”, “The Book of Illusions”, “The New York Trilogy” or” Leviathan”, and has received numerous awards, including the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2006.
In “The Night of the Oracle”, published in 2003, the narrator is a writer whose son is a drug addict.
Daniel's mother, Paul Auster's first wife, is fellow writer Lydia Davis.
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