Results tagged “quachonbrown”

Sigh. More news about how Administration of Children's Services caseworkers had a lot of contact with the parents of a 4 month old baby boy whose brain damage may be caused by shaken baby syndrome. In 2000, Antonio Patterson and Tamira Hertzog's baby daughter died, possibly by wounds inflicted by Patterson; the incident caused their children to be placed in foster care, but they were returned to their parents a few years later. A daughter with cerebral palsy was kept in foster care and the couple had recent supervised visits with her at the ACS offices as well as court appearances with ACS while the agency investigated claims that the parents. When ACS workers asked Hertzog if she was pregnant, she denied it.

The stepfather of Nixzmary Brown, the 7 year old beaten and tortured to death last month, claims that Brown was a "devil" and that's why he had to beat her. Statements written by Cesar Rodriguez were made public: "With no intention of causing her death, I carelessly corrected my stepdaughter's actions. I took it upon myself to defend the safety of my other five beautiful children." Yeah, and that would be accomplished by hitting her head against the bathtub faucet? Tying her up to a chair? Starving her? Rodriguez and Brown's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, were both charged with murdering the girl, and pleaded not guilty yesterday. NY1 reports that Rodriguez's lawyer even said that another person "was to blame for the child's death, but would not identify the person." And what's more, Rodriguez wants to create a fund for abused children - and wants Oprah Winfrey to help out!

- Monday: Paramedics detemine Brown has been dead for hours, based on his 83 degree body temperature [NY Times]Yesterday, the Times also had a story about neighbors helping Smith - until Calderon moved into the apartment (a quote from a friend of Calderon's backs up his story about the TV falling on the child; but police interviews with Smith's other children seem to confirm Calderon beat Brown). Further, the depressing but now unsurprising news is that the Administration for Children's Service was notified 6 times about the living conditions for Smith's six children, though they had no record of knowing Calderon was living in the home. These stories of abuse are so upsetting - can an additional $17 million really help out? As poor a job as the ACS has been doing, it must be one of the worst jobs to have, to confront these things day after day.

This refrain has become sickeningly familiar : A child died in the Bronx, and his family was being investigated by the Administration for Children's Services. Authorities believe that little Quachon Brown was "thrown like a rag doll" by his mother's boyfriend for knocking over a TV set. and he was found with a smashed skull in his Norwood apartment. Alicia Brown (called Aleishia Smith in the Daily News) and Jose Calderon were questioned about the boy's death - and the squalor Quachon and Brown's other children lived in, a rat and roach infested apartment with a broken window and no food. Last summer, Quachon and five other chlidren were removed from the house by ACS when neighbors realized the chlidren were alone; Brown had gone to Atlantic City. Brown claims the TV fell on her son, but with his body covered in bruises, the authorities are suspicious. The ME's office is performing an autopsy. And today would have been his fifth birthday.