Kingsbridge community members attended the Sept. 15, 2024 street co-naming ceremony honoring Nicholas Dominici, the infant who was killed by exposure to fentanyl at his day care in 2023.
Photo Emily Swanson
Street co-naming ceremonies usually honor New Yorkers who led long, fruitful lives of service to their communities. But on Sept. 15, Bronx neighbors and elected officials gathered to unveil a street sign for Nicholas Feliz Dominici, who was just a toddler when he died Sept. 15, 2023, after being exposed to fentanyl at his Kingsbridge day care.
The intersection of Kingsbridge Road and Kingsbridge Terrace is now marked Nicholas Otoniel Feliz Dominici Way. His death, at the age of 1, along with injury of three other children, rocked the west Bronx community and drew nationwide attention to the lack of consistent regulation for home-based day cares. Authorities, following Nicholas’ death, discovered a stash of fentanyl along with drug paraphernalia beneath a trap door in the room where the children apparently slept.
The toddler’s parents, Otoniel Feliz and Zoila Dominici, along with their four other children, tearfully supported each other through the difficult day, which included an evening vigil mass at the family’s Catholic church.
The loss of Nicholas “tore us all apart” — the family and the community, said Feliz in Spanish. “It’s been hard for us to get up every day.” He also pleaded with neighbors to keep a watchful eye for suspicious behaviors.
Nicholas’ death showed the difficulty of knowing what’s really going on at home-based day cares. The now-closed business where Nicholas died, Divino Niño on Morris Avenue, was relatively new but properly licensed and found to have no problems on its first and only inspection before being shut down due to the fentanyl case.
The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) conducts inspections of home-based day cares, while licensure is granted and…
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