Crime & Safety

Ronkonkoma Woman Reunites with Abandoned Child She Rescued

2-year-old girl was left behind at Heckscher State Park while day-tripping with day care agency.

A Ronkonkoma resident was given the opportunity to meet with the little girl she discovered stranded at the playground at Heckscher State Park more than a week ago.

Patti Tullo was at the park on August 14 when she noticed a little girl playing by herself on the playground. The girl was 2-year-old Alexia Zambrotta.

“She was actually up on a slide that she should not have been on,” Zullo said in her interview with CBS New York. Zullo called a lifeguard over who then alerted the local police. As it turned out, Zambrotta was at the park with Our Little Darlings Daycare of Bay Shore when they packed up and left the park, apparently forgetting to do a head count.

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Officials at the Daycare facility finally called police about three hours after she had been missing. The state's Office of Children and Family Services has launched in inquiry into the mishap. In the meantime, Our Little Darlings Daycare has had is license to operate suspended and revoked.

More importantly, the little girl is safe and sound, thanks to Tullo's kindhearted curiosity.

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"It turned out very well,” Zullo stated in the CBS article. “That’s all that matters.”

 


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