She didn’t plan to watch her newborn. So she suffocated her, cops say

The mother of a 2-month-old baby is under arrest for allegedly suffocating the infant after she returned from a night out at a strip club.

According to the Lakeland Police Department, Brittany Harris, 24, left her newborn, Xzayla Harris, with a baby sitter on May 27 while she traveled to a Hudson strip club during the Memorial Day weekend.

When she returned home to Lakeland that night, the baby sitter left, and Harris took custody of her child. A friend checked on Harris in the morning and found her in lying in bed with Xzayla wrapped tightly in a blanket between her legs.

According to Lakeland police, the friend called for help and lifesaving measures were taken, but the baby was pronounced dead at Lakeland Regional Health.

In an interview with detectives, Harris said she didn’t have plans for anyone to look after her baby that morning.

A toxicology report found that Harris had alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamine in her system hours after her baby died. She did not participate in attempts to save her child’s life, authorities said.

An autopsy revealed that suffocation was Xzayla’s cause of death. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant, but Harris fled to Michigan in August, police said.

Harris was arrested by the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office Nov. 27 and will be extradited to Florida. She is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and is being held as a fugitive from justice without bond in Michigan.

This story was originally published December 6, 2017 at 8:26 PM with the headline "She didn’t plan to watch her newborn. So she suffocated her, cops say."