2:58 P.M. UPDATE:
The attorney prosecuting four day care workers charged in the death of a 5-year-old boy who was left in a hot van said Friday all of the women “made choices to disregard protocols,” which led to the child's death.
Tom Young, a deputy prosecuting attorney for Crittenden County, will prosecute Felicia Ann Phillips, 42; Pamela Lavette Robinson, 43; Wanda Taylor, 43; and Kendra Washington, 40; each on a manslaughter charge in the death of 5-year-old Christopher Gardner.
The child died Monday after being left in a day care van for more than eight hours, police said. He was supposed to be taken to Ascent Children’s Health Services in West Memphis but was never brought inside the building.
Police issued warrants Friday for the four women, who all worked at the day care.
“You have four individuals whose job it was to ensure safety,” Young said by phone Friday afternoon. “They disregarded it — their duties — and as a result, that child is dead.”
Young also prosecuted Garland County Circuit Judge Wade Naramore, who was acquitted of negligent homicide in the hot-car death of his 17-month-old son. The judge found his son, Thomas, on July 24, 2015, in his car after he had been left there for more than five hours.
Young said Friday the two cases are “very different.” Naramore was a parent who was transporting his child and forgot he was in the back seat, the prosecutor said.
“In this case,” Young said, referencing the Ascent day care charges, “we have four people whose job it was to ensure the safety of this child. All four of them. That was their job. And they made choices to disregard the protocols.”
Following certain safety guidelines should be a basic task for child care workers, Young said.
“If you do it, bad things don’t happen. If you don’t do it, this is what happens,” he said.
Young said he could not say if more people would be charged. The state Department of Human Services investigation into the death is ongoing.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
EARLIER:
Four women who worked at the Arkansas day care where a 5-year-old boy died after being left in a van on a hot day will each face a charge of manslaughter, authorities said Friday.
The boy, Christopher Gardner, was picked up at 6:40 a.m. Monday and taken to the Ascent Children’s Health Services in West Memphis, police have said. He was never taken inside the facility, which serves children with developmental disabilities.
The 5-year-old was found dead more than eight hours later, still strapped in a booster seat, when employees were preparing to take children home, police said.
Police said warrants were obtained for four people: Felicia Ann Phillips, 42, Pamela Lavette Robinson, 43, Wanda Taylor, 43, and Kendra Washington, 40, all of Crittenden County. Each will be charged with manslaughter.
Phillips was the driver of the day care van and Robinson was the adult van rider who travels in the vehicle to ensure the safety of the children, West Memphis Police Department Capt. Joe Baker said.
Taylor worked as the day care’s “transportation supervisor” who signed Christopher into day care that day even though he had not made it inside, Baker said. Washington was the “designated van safety inspector” who was supposed to check inside the vehicle to make sure it’s empty and secure, he said.
“What we had here was four people who directly contributed to this death,” Baker said. “If any one of these four did anything different, there’s a good chance this wouldn’t have happened.”
All of the women have spoken with police at one point or another, though a few retained attorneys when they realized they would likely be charged, Baker said.
Four employees were subsequently fired from the facility, though there was no immediate confirmation Friday it was the same four workers named by police. Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, who has served as CEO of Ascent since 2013, stated the fired employees “did not follow company policies and procedures, and if they had, this tragedy would not have occurred."
The state Department of Human Services is also investigating the death.