Dominican infant dies when ambulance detained

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic are investigating the death of an infant whose arrival at the hospital was delayed when police stopped an ambulance to search for drugs.

A spokesman for the Dominican National Drug Control Agency said Friday that officials are trying to determine whether its agents are responsible for the death of the 4-month-old girl. Miguel Medina says they had a tip that an ambulance was transporting drugs from the Haitian border to the capital.

Medina says the ambulance was stopped Thursday for a few minutes.

But the girl's parents tell reporters they were stopped in San Cristobal for more than 20 minutes and forced to take off the baby's oxygen mask while they got out of the ambulance for the search. She died before reaching the hospital.