Brea Family Sues Sitter in Child’s Death

The family of a Brea infant, who died last September after allegedly being injured while in the care of a baby sitter, filed a wrongful-death suit Wednesday, claiming that the sitter was negligent and that the child was assaulted.

The suit, which was filed on behalf of Joseph Rudnicki, his wife, Barbara, and their 4-year-old son, Kenneth, contends that Douglas Charles Rudnicki, 9 1/2 months, died as a result of improper care by Cynthia Ann Brown, 28. Not only did Brown allow the child to be injured on Sept. 4, 1984, but she did not seek proper medical help, the suit alleges.

Since August, 1983, Brown had been licensed by the county to provide child care for a maximum of six children in her Brea home. But her license was suspended several months after the child’s death, and she was charged with murder on April 9. Brown faces a preliminary hearing on Sept. 18, said Robert Molko, deputy district attorney.

As a result of the baby’s death, Joseph Rudnicki has worked to get a bill passed by the Legislature that would make it easier to close private child care centers where children have died or been injured. The bill, AB 644, has passed the Assembly and goes to the Senate in September, Rudnicki said.

No amount of damages is specified in the suit. Mike McDonnell, Brown’s attorney, refused to comment on the filing.