JORDAN COLEMAN - 4 yo - Tamarac FL

BSO confirms death of boy, 4, found in Tamarac


7:44 p.m. EDT, August 2, 2012

The Broward Sheriff's Officeis investigating the death of a 4-year-old boy who was found in Tamarac on Wednesday night.
He was taken to Coral Springs Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to Tamarac city spokeswoman Elise Boston.
Sheriff's detectives showed up at the hospital to begin their probe.

They informed Tamarac city officials through Boston, who recalled being
told the child was found unconscious, possibly on the ground in a
residential area.

"They cleared a path to Coral Springs Medical Center and were unable to revive him," she said.

Detectives were releasing no details of the child's death because it was an active
investigation, according to sheriff's spokeswoman Dani Moschella.

This is a developing story that will be updated as new details become available.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/tamarac/fl-tamarac-child-death-20120802,0,2399612.story

Florida authorities investigate death of 4-year-old left in sweltering vehicle

MIAMI — Broward County
authorities are investigating the death of a 4-year-old boy left in a
sweltering SUV for more than two hours by the 20-year-old daughter of a
Sunrise, Fla., day care operator.

Sources told McClatchy Newspapers on Thursday that
the boy, Jordan Coleman, and seven other children had been taken to an
apartment complex in nearby Tamarac by van on Wednesday, allegedly
because the owner of 3C's Day Academy was afraid that
child-care-licensing administrators would visit and discover she was
caring for more children than her license allowed.
The seven
others were brought into a unit in the complex, but Jordan, for reasons
that are unclear, was left in the van. The outside temperature was in
the 90s at the time.



Day care owner Cecily Roberts, 42, had been the subject of
several troubling inspections by the Broward County Child Care Licensing
office, and state child protection investigators had been seeking to
shut down her home-based day care.
Broward Sheriff Al
Lamberti, on vacation this week, confirmed that his agency was
investigating the death of a 4-year-old who had been left in a van for
about two hours, but he refused to discuss any details, such as whether
the van was sealed.
"We're waiting for the medical examiner
to come back with a ruling. That's why we can't really say anything,"
Lamberti said. "We don't know if it was neglect or homicide."

Jordan is the 16th child to die in a hot car unattended in the United
States this year, according to KidsAndCars.org, a Kansas City advocacy
group. Wednesday's highest temperature in Broward was 91 degrees,
according to the National Weather Service.
Roberts, 42, is
the operator of 3C's Day Academy in Sunrise, which was first licensed in
2008, records show. Since 2010, Roberts has been cited three times for
running an over-capacity child care, and twice for leaving infants and
toddlers in the care of her now-20-year-old daughter, who is below the
age required to supervise a child-care center. The center also had been
reported to the Department of Children & Families on three
occasions, including one verified report that youngsters were not being
properly supervised.
The child-care center's problems appear
to have begun around October 2010, when Broward licensing administrators
cited Roberts for leaving her then-18-year-old daughter, Camile Gordon,
in charge of two children while she was away from the home. In that
same inspection, Roberts was cited for failing to notify licensure
authorities when a child in her care experienced a medical emergency.
Under licensing rules, child-care operators must file an incident report
every time 911 is called.
An April 2011 inspection, the
result of a complaint from an agency that works with children, concluded
once again that 3C's had "exceeded" the staff-to-child ratio allowed.
And again in August of that year, Roberts was cited when inspectors
found eight children - the number would have been nine, had the mother
of one child not left with her 2-year-old when the inspectors arrived -
alone with only one caregiver.
The number of children a center can supervise varies, depending partly on the children's ages.
A December 2011 inspection found "excessive clothing and other
items tossed throughout the master bedroom that would present a serious
danger to the children in care in the event of a fire." The most recent
inspection, in June, found Roberts had failed to comply with four
regulations, including record-keeping and proof that children had
received physical exams.
Sources told McClatchy Newspapers on
Thursday that Roberts was afraid child-care inspectors would return to
her home to ensure she had corrected the June deficiencies, and had
asked her daughter to take the eight children away from the center so
she didn't get caught over capacity once again. Sources said the eight
youngsters, including two infants, were placed in the SUV without car
seats and driven to the apartment complex, where they spent the day.
About two-and-a-half hours later, Camile Gordon discovered the
4-year-old passed out in the back of the car.
Gordon called fire rescue while a neighbor performed CPR on Jordan, sources said.
The Sheriff's Office, which performs child-abuse investigations in
Broward County under contract with the Department of Children &
Families, had either visited the home or contacted Roberts twice in
recent months in an effort to either improve the day care center or shut
it down, a source told the newspaper.
No one answered the
door at Roberts' home Thursday, and she could not be reached by phone.
County licensing administrators also could not be reached for comment.
Joe Follick, DCF's spokesman in Tallahassee, declined to discuss
Jordan's death in detail Thursday, saying that it remained under
investigation.
"We are working with law enforcement on this
tragic case," Follick said. "We cannot emphasize enough the dangers of
leaving a child unattended in a car - for any amount of time," he said.
Added Amber Rollins, executive assistant to the president at
KidsAndCars.org.: "One thing that people don't realize is how quickly a
vehicle heats up. It acts like a greenhouse in fact, letting heat in and
with nowhere for the heat to escape. And little ones, their bodies
don't regulate heat the way adults do.
"There's not much of a chance for a little one left in a van for two hours," Rollins added.

The tragedy occurred at about 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Versailles
Garden apartment complex. Miyoshi Agnew was at home in her apartment
when her granddaughter told her a little boy had passed out.

Agnew went outside to a parking lot between two buildings. She saw a
young woman on her phone, frantic, and an older woman screaming at that
woman. There was an SUV and, standing around, about seven little kids,
from as young as nine months to as old as 5.
An eighth child, a little boy, was on a strip of grass, not breathing.
Agnew grabbed the phone from the young woman, talked to the 911
operators, she said, and then started doing CPR on the boy, who had
saliva coming out of his mouth.
After emergency crews
arrived, Agnew took the seven kids inside her apartment to get them food
and cold air. Two of the children were so young they couldn't walk on
their own.
"It was hot," Agnew said. "I know it had to be in the 90s."
Back inside, Agnew's daughter asked one of the kids, a 5-year-old
boy, what happened. He told her the 4-year-old had been left in the SUV
by himself.
The woman who had been screaming told Agnew that
the children had been there for some type of pool outing and the boy
collapsed during a walk.
But the complex's two pools have
both been down for a month with no swimming allowed, Agnew said. And
Agnew, who said she keeps an eye out on the neighborhood children,
didn't recognize any of them.
Distraught at what happened, Agnew stayed home from work on Thursday.
"It's horrible for something like this to happen to a little 4-year-old boy," she said.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/02/159680/florida-authorities-investigate.html

Report: 4-Year-Old Boy Left To Die In Sweltering Child Care Van?


August 3, 2012 12:27 PM

TAMARAC (CBS4) — The death of a 4-year-old child remains under
investigation in Tamarac. The child reportedly died after being left in a
hot vehicle for hours.

Sources told CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald that 4-year-old
Jordan Coleman was left inside a sweltering hot van Wednesday in the
parking lot of a Tamarac condominium complex Wednesday evening.

“It was very, very scary. I was terrified,” said Mia Agnew who heard a
commotion outside her home and saw a young woman panicked while on the
phone with 911.

Agnew is a former nurse and ran to help. She gave CPR to the child but he never regained consciousness.

“Not while we were doing CPR,” Agnew told CBS4.

The Miami Herald reports the child was in an SUV driven by Camile Gordon, the daughter of daycare owner Cecile Roberts.





Roberts owns the 3C’s Day Academy in Sunrise.

Nobody answered the door when CBS4 News tried to speak to someone.

According to the Herald, Gordon took Coleman and 7 other children to
the Tamarac condo complex because the owner was concerned about losing
her license. The Herald reports she had been cited several times before
for having too many children in her home.

At the scene on Wednesday, a woman said the child was taken from her home but she did not know how he died.

“We don’t know, that’s what we’re trying to find out now, he had pneumonia,” said the woman.

Sources said the boy died from being left in a hot vehicle.

Mia Agnew’s daughter, Pandora, told CBS 4 News that she helped care
for the other 7 children while paramedics worked on Coleman. Pandora
Agnew said she asked one of the older boys what happened.

“The little boy begins to describe to me that he and his siblings
were in the home here taking a nap and I said, ‘Where was the other
little boy?’” Pandora explained. “He said in the car.”

Reports from the Broward County Child Care Licensing and Enforcement
Section indicate an ongoing series of problems at the day care center.

The most recent report from June 2012 shows that the center was
allowed to have 10 children. The report also shows that the center
failed to comply on personnel training and several admission and record
keeping issues. The facility passed a review but a follow-up visit was
planned.

According to the Herald, since 2010, Roberts has been cited three
times for running an over-capacity child care, and twice for leaving
infants and toddlers in the care of her now-20-year-old daughter, who is
below the age required to supervise a child care center. The center
also had been reported to the Department of Children & Families on
three occasions, including one verified report that youngsters were not
being properly supervised.

The child care center’s problems appear to have begun around October
2010, when Broward licensing administrators cited Roberts for leaving
her then-18-year-old daughter, Camile Gordon, in charge of two children
while she was away from the home. In that same inspection, Roberts was
cited for failing to notify licensure authorities when a child in her
care experienced a medical emergency. Under licensing rules, child care
operators must file an incident report every time 911 is called.

An April 2011 inspection, the result of a complaint from an agency
that works with children, concluded once again that 3C’s had “exceeded”
the staff-to-child ratio allowed. And again in August of that year,
Roberts was cited when inspectors found eight children — the number
would have been nine, had the mother of one child not left with her
2-year-old when the inspectors arrived — alone with only one caregiver.

A December 2011 inspection found “excessive clothing and other items
tossed throughout the master bedroom that would present a serious danger
to the children in care in the event of a fire.” The most recent
inspection, in June, found Roberts had failed to comply with four
regulations, including record-keeping and proof that children had
received physical exams.

Sources told The Miami Herald Thursday that Roberts was afraid child
care inspectors would return to her home to ensure she had corrected the
June deficiencies, and had asked her daughter to take the eight
children away from the center so she didn’t get caught over-capacity
once again. Sources said the eight youngsters, including two infants,
were placed in the SUV without car seats and driven to a Tamarac
apartment complex where they spent the day. About two-and-a-half hours
later, Camile Gordon discovered the 4-year-old passed out in the back of
the car.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office will only say they are working with the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine how the child died.

Meanwhile people in this Tamarac neighborhood can only imagine the pain felt by the parents of little Jordan Coleman.

“They are distraught right now,” Pandora Agnew said. “Absolutely
distraught. They left their child in the hands of day care trusting they
would provide good care for this child and they get a call saying come
to the hospital.”
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/08/03/report-4-year-old-boy-left-to-die-in-sweltering-child-care-van/

Thursday 9-13-12

Day-care worker jailed in death of 4-year-old left in hot SUV

Paris Ward, 19, is charged with manslaughter for
her part in the death of a small boy who died in Tamarac after he was
forgotten in a hot SUV.




Paris Ward, who is charged with manslaughter. Broward Sheriff's Office


By Carol Marbin Miller and Diana Moskovitz

On the last day of Jordan Coleman’s very short life, two employees
from his day-care center drove him and seven other youngsters for an
outing of fun: a community pool in Lauderdale Lakes and a public park
for lunch.

Afterward, the children were loaded into a Toyota Sequoia and taken to a Tamarac apartment, where seven took naps.

But Jordan, who had already fallen asleep in the SUV, was left behind in
the sweltering vehicle. He died there, his body temperature reaching 108
degrees.

On Thursday, one of those day-care employees, 19-year-old Paris
Ward, appeared in court on the charge of aggravated manslaughter for her
role in the 4-year-old boy’s death on Aug. 1. Late Thursday, she was
released from a Broward County jail on bail.

An indictment handed up by a Broward grand jury, which, sources say , contains
the names of Ward and two other women, remained sealed Wednesday as the
others remained at large. Details of the arrest became public after
Ward appeared in court Thursday, sobbing through her entire hearing.

Her lawyer emphasized at the hearing that his client, who had recently
finished high school, was not a full-time employee of the day-care and
had no criminal record before the arrest.

Jordan, who went by the
nickname JoJo, had turned 4 just eight days before he died, when Ward
and another young woman, whose mother owned the 3C’s Day Academy, left
him in the SUV.

The eight children had left the day-care, at 2125 NW 72nd Ter. in Sunrise, because Ward’s boss, Cecily Roberts, was
fearful that state child-care regulators would return to the center on
Aug. 1 after a prior inspection turned up several problems, the Broward
Sheriff’s Office said.

Sources told The Miami Herald Thursday that Roberts and her daughter, Camile Gordon, had left the state.

Members of Jordan’s family declined to discuss Ward’s arrest with The Miami
Herald Thursday. The family’s lawyer, Stuart V. Grossman, said “the
Coleman family was pleased to learn of the arrest of Paris Ward.”

“The family wants all parties involved in the death of Jordan Coleman to be
brought to justice — and this is a beginning,” Grossman said.

But Grossman said that Broward County child-care licensing authorities,
among others, share blame in the youngster’s death. “There were
breakdowns across the board in this case, beginning with inspectors who
did not enforce the law at that day-care center.”

At the time of Jordan’s death, 3C’s Day Academy had been under scrutiny by the Broward County Child-Care Licensing division.

Since the center opened in 2008, Roberts had been repeatedly cited for caring
for more children than her license allowed, and for leaving the
youngsters — some of them infants — in the care of her teenage daughter.
The daughter, Camile Gordon, was 18 when Roberts was first faulted,
below the age required to operate a day-care center.

Roberts’ last inspection was in June, and she had been cited for four violations.
Records show investigators believe Roberts had told her daughter to hide
the eight children away from her home-based day-care, because she was
afraid licensing authorities would return to the house for a
re-inspection and discover she remained over capacity.

Although Roberts is licensed to transport the children in her care — and has
never been cited for transportation problems — she has been ticketed
more than a dozen times in either Miami-Dade or Broward counties, and
records show her driver’s license currently is suspended.

And after Jordan died, BSO said, police found only one child safety seat in
the SUV that Gordon and Ward used to transport the eight children — who
ranged in age from infants to age five.

About 1:15 p.m. that day,
BSO said, Ward and the other employee parked the Sequoia in the parking
lot of the Versailles apartments, 7806 Colony Circle and took seven of
the children to apartment 202. They didn’t realize they had forgotten
Jordan until about 3:45 p.m.

By the time they remembered Jordan, it was too late.

In a prepared statement, BSO said Ward discovered the youngster
unconscious lying across a back seat of the SUV. She removed him from
the SUV and put him on nearby grass. Neighbors said at the time they
tried to revive the boy, without success.

“Ward initially lied about how Jordan became unconscious, telling her coworker and a BSO
homicide detective that he inexplicably collapsed while getting into the
SUV,” BSO said in a statement. “About two hours into the investigation,
she tearfully admitted the truth to another BSO detective.”

BSO, which also investigates allegations of child abuse and neglect in
Broward under contract with the Department of Children & Families,
closed down 3Cs after Jordan’s death.

Miami Herald news partner WFOR CBS4 contributed to this report.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/13/3001083/daycare-employee-charged-with.html#storylink=cpy

how many children have to die before these ppl will get a clue. u never leave a child in a vehicle!! i see this scenario everyday on the internet news. im just at a loss for words!

Yep, too many kids have died in cars. This year was terrible due to the heat. It only take 15 minutes or so for them to be gone. Little Ava was gone in 30 minutes.

http://avarosemeyer.memory-of.com/About.aspx


She died Feb. 05 2007 at only 3.

I tear every time I read her story.

William

What a beautiful little princess. Makes me tear up also William.

twinkletoes wrote:What a beautiful little princess. Makes me tear up also William.

Go to her website and read the stories, if you can. The "Super Princess" came from Ava hersefl. Her mother called her princess and she turned and said "I'm a SUPER PRINCES".

Here's the quote from the website: "laughed and said "I know..it's raining" and made the comment "Ava, you're such a princess". She spins around, hand on hip and says "Mum! I am NOT a princess"..She starts to walk away and says, completely deadpan "I'm a SUPER PRINCESS"!!! "

http://avarosemeyer.memory-of.com/tributes.aspx

We have a bad summer and way too many children have died in cars.

Here's my rules. They will be apart of my signiture now. I will also add to them as time goes on.

Never assume where your child is, KNOW.
Never assume your child is NOT in the car LOOK.
Never leave your child ALONE for one second.
Never assume your child is safe, KNOW.

William

willcarney wrote:

twinkletoes wrote:What a beautiful little princess. Makes me tear up also William.

Go to her website and read the stories, if you can. The "Super Princess" came from Ava hersefl. Her mother called her princess and she turned and said "I'm a SUPER PRINCES".

Here's the quote from the website: "laughed and said "I know..it's raining" and made the comment "Ava, you're such a princess". She spins around, hand on hip and says "Mum! I am NOT a princess"..She starts to walk away and says, completely deadpan "I'm a SUPER PRINCESS"!!! "

http://avarosemeyer.memory-of.com/tributes.aspx

We have a bad summer and way too many children have died in cars.

Here's my rules. They will be apart of my signiture now. I will also add to them as time goes on.

Never assume where your child is, KNOW.
Never assume your child is NOT in the car LOOK.
Never leave your child ALONE for one second.
Never assume your child is safe, KNOW.

William

Thank you for sharing this William.

Made me cry.

Those are very good rules, you should put them under your avatar IMO.