CRIME

Daycare co-owner arrested in death of 4-month-old left in van

Dan Scanlan
dscanlan@jacksonville.com
Ewing

It was a local death discussed Thursday in front of a congressional committee in Washington as well as in Tallahassee.

Four-month-old Brooklyn Blount was left for hours in a daycare van outside a Westside center in the summer heat, prompting the co-owner's arrest on a child-neglect charge

Darryl Allyn Ewing, 56, of Ewing’s Love and Hope Daycare Center on Lenox Avenue remains behind bars on $75,000 bail, jail records show. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the suspect’s actions and lack thereof failed to provide the infant with the necessary supervision to protect her.

Officers determined the infant and other children had been picked up at their homes in the morning. Ewing was the van driver and had returned to the center with the van full of children about 8:25 a.m., the Sheriff's Office said. The children were taken into the center, but the infant was left behind still strapped in her car seat in the van's third row.

Temperatures outside were in the upper-80s to low-90s. The girl's absence was not noticed until her mother called about 1 p.m. to make after-school arrangements for all her children, the Sheriff's Office said. Employees learned the infant had never been checked into the center and went to the van to find her unresponsive.

Further investigation showed Ewing was responsible for maintaining a separate driver’s log to document when all children are placed on the van, separate from another signed by parents, police said. The driver's log showed the girl's two siblings signed in, but not her, the Sheriff's Office said.

Taken in for questioning, Ewing refused to talk with detectives and was booked into jail that night, the Sheriff's Office said. But his arrest report did note he indicated "he wanted to harm himself."

Ewing has three prior arrests for driving with a suspended license, according to jail records. His wife and co-owner of the child care, Gloryian Ewing, also was arrested in December 2017 on two counts of child abuse.

Lancia Isaac has begun an online fundraiser at bit.ly/2M1ZAdI following her daughter's death.

"Her life was abruptly ended after she was left in a child-care van for hours," Isaac wrote. "The team of doctors and nurses did everything in their power to save my beautiful baby girl, but she couldn't be revived. The tragedy has left our city outraged and full of sorrow. My family is in shambles and with so many unanswered questions."

Department of Children and Families Secretary Chad Poppell called it a tragedy as his investigators join the Sheriff's Office in finding out how Brooklyn was left behind.

"Every day, parents entrust child-care providers with their most precious gifts. Tragically, a family has just been notified of the gut-wrenching loss of their precious baby girl," Poppell said. "DCF immediately opened a joint child death and child-care licensing investigation in coordination with law enforcement."

Licensed since 2016 with the department, the center has never been cited for any abuse or neglect issues. The center's May 5 inspection report shows it in compliance on all major points. But since Ewing and his wife never notified the agency that they were transporting children, state transportation standards were not being monitored as part of the center's regular inspections, Children and Families spokesman John Harrell said.

"The department has begun the administrative process of issuing an emergency suspension order to cease operations at this facility," Harrell said. "The facility is currently closed and child-care licensing staff is monitoring to ensure they do not reopen."

Ironically, the last comment made in the May 5 inspection report is reminding daycare staff of changes in the state's Distracted Adult rules, requiring operators to provide parents/guardians with information on "the dangers of leaving a child in a vehicle, including tips for prevention."

Brooklyn's death was the nation's eighth hot-car fatality this year, according to KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving the lives of children and pets in and around vehicles. She also was the ninth Duval County child fatality, but no others apparently from overheating in a vehicle, according to the DCF website at bit.ly/2HwyRSq.

The child's death was also discussed often during the opening hour of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce's Thursday hearing on “Summer Driving Dangers: Exploring Ways to Protect Drivers and Their Families."

Working to pass legislation mandating updated safety technology in modern cars such as an alert if a child is left in a back seat, U.S. Rep. Janice Schakowsky of Illinois mentioned Jacksonville's death in her opening statement as she discussed the 52 children who died nationwide last year when left in hot cars.

"We have a duty however to do everything we can to ensure parents don't lose a child when we can prevent that," the committee chairwoman said. "... Eight children died in hot cars so far this year. Just yesterday a 4-month-old girl tragically died in a van sitting outside of her daycare. Education alone cannot solve this crisis."

KidsAndCare.org President Janette Fennell testified at the hearing, as did parent advocate Miles Harrison who tearfully told of 2-year-old son Chase's death in a hot car in 2008 in Virginia.

The nonprofit states hot car-related deaths were a record last year.

Nissan, GMC and Hyundai are among the companies that have beeping or visual alert systems in their vehicles to remind drivers to check back seats for anyone or thing left behind.

Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549