Dead Infant's Family To Get $5M From Homestead Daycare

Dead Infant's Family To Get $5M From Homestead Daycare

Introduction

A police investigation into the death of a Homestead child who was found unresponsive at a daycare center seven months ago is still ongoing, and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner has yet to assign a cause of death.

According to the family and court filings, the proprietors of Lincoln-Marti Daycare agreed to a $5 million settlement with the 9-month-family old's earlier this month. As part of the arrangement, the bereaved family agreed to withdraw a civil complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court months ago, alleging the childcare center was negligent in its treatment of the situation.

The infant's mother said she hopes to build a coalition to advocate for childcare center reform in the state legislature, adding that any legislation would include on-site CPR training for employees and additional cameras at the facilities.

Representatives from the 510 Krome Ave. childcare center have remained mainly silent since the infant's death in July. There was no news announcement released about the settlement, and the attorney who represented Lincoln-Marti did not return phone calls. However, on Jan. 3, a joint agreement affirming the case's dismissal and a settlement was entered in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. It does not specify a monetary value.

Despite the settlement, the family's attorney was harsh in his comments. He slammed the company, claiming that administrators had broken a state law that requires one childcare worker for every four newborns in a facility. According to the attorney, there was one worker for at least seven children that day.

Before the settlement, the attorney obtained depositions from four Lincoln-Marti employees, and the director of the facility that day admitted under oath that there weren't enough personnel and that a camera inside the room with the newborn wasn't working.

The 9-month-old was discovered lifeless but with a faint pulse during sleep time at the Homestead daycare on July 19 during a caretaker's early afternoon visits. He was brought to the hospital, where doctors were unable to save his life. The toddler appeared fine a few hours earlier when the two were playing before he left for daycare, according to the boy's grandpa.

Lincoln-Marti staff provided little information, and three months after his death, the family attorney released three video feeds from inside the daycare and filed a wrongful death complaint in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

One of the manipulated video footage shows a daycare provider practically upside down holding the unconscious infant and rubbing him on the back for almost 30 seconds. The baby is dressed in a white diaper. Two further videos, each lasting less than 20 seconds, show a lady walking while cradling the deceased infant and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him many times while she goes.

Even seven months after the child's death, his family is still looking for answers. Miami-Dade Police will not end their investigation until the medical examiner's findings are released. The medical examiner is still researching forensics, analyzing the child's blood, and looking for any form of brain damage, such as shaken-baby syndrome. So yet, however, there is no evidence that this is how the child died.