Girl's strangling death ruled accidental

On the day that friends and family gathered at the wake for 6-year-old Kaitlyn Dorothy Hassard, Suffolk police said her death indeed was a tragic accident: Autopsy results seem to indicate she was asphyxiated while playing with her family's golden retriever in the backyard of her Manorville home, Suffolk police said yesterday.

Last night at the O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place, family members and friends embraced in the parlor, near the child's coffin.

Some wept openly. Dozens of mourners came to pay their respects, waiting in a line that extended through the parlor far into the hallway.

Earlier yesterday, Homicide Squad Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said police are ruling Kaitlyn's death on Tuesday an accident. It didn't appear that Jesse, the 18-month-old dog, attacked Kaitlyn, but rather that the dog was simply playing with her, he said.

Yesterday, the 70-pound retriever who had nipped at Kaitlyn's scarf while they played was in the Brookhaven Town animal shelter. Somehow, Suffolk detectives said, Jesse latched onto the scarf, tightening the blue cloth until it strangled the little girl.

The Hassards could not be reached for comment yesterday. "They're very private people," family spokesman James Talamini said.

Yesterday morning, staff at South Street School in Manorville, where Kaitlyn was in kindergarten, gathered her artwork to put on display inside the funeral home for her wake last night, principal Robin Barbera said.

The family will continue to receive visitors at the funeral home from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today. A funeral Mass will be said 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Manorville.

"We're still numb," Barbera said of students and staff.

Barbera said she spoke with Kaitlyn's mother, Korey Hassard, yesterday morning, who was "devastated."

Hassard told Barbera a fund has been established for donations to be made in lieu of flowers. Checks can be mailed to the Kaitlyn Dorothy Hassard Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 628, Manorville, NY 11949.