Teen Charged in Bowling Ball Death
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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A teen-ager was charged Wednesday in the death of a baby girl who was hit in the head by a bowling ball that bounced through the windshield of her family’s car after being dropped from a highway overpass.
Calvin Settle, 18, was charged with criminal homicide after reportedly telling police he placed the ball on the top of the railing.
Eight-month-old Natalia Rivera was struck Sunday by a 16-pound bowling ball etched with the name “Mike.” She died Monday.
The ball apparently bounced in front of a truck, glanced off the truck’s bumper, flew across the highway divider and went through the windshield of the car.
“The baby died right before this poor couple’s eyes,” a police officer said. “It’s tragic that people do these things.”
The officer said Santos Rivera, a 43-year-old psychologist, and his wife, Donna, a 41-year-old psychotherapist, did not realize that the ball had struck their daughter, who was strapped into a child seat, until they pulled the car over and looked in the back seat.
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