A St. Paul foster-care provider has been charged in connection with
the July 2 death of a developmentally disabled 18-month-old girl who
was left unattended in a bathtub at the family's home.
Daniel L. Wright, 50, was charged this week in Ramsey County
District Court with second-degree manslaughter, felony child
endangerment and felony child neglect in the death of Brianna Rose
Jackson. His first court appearance is set for Feb. 23.
It's fairly unusual to charge the latter two counts as felonies. In
Ramsey County, child endangerment was charged six times in 2009, all as
gross misdemeanors. In Washington County, three child-neglect cases and
one child-endangerment case were charged as gross misdemeanors last
year.
Wright and his wife, Barbara, had provided foster care for up to five children since 2002.
According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Wright told
police that he'd been giving Brianna and her 3-year-old brother a bath
in the master bedroom's whirlpool tub the morning of July 1. He left
Brianna by herself when he took the boy out and went into the adjoining
bedroom to dry him off and get him dressed.
Wright said Brianna was "splashing about" in the tub when he left her.
A few minutes later, Barbara Wright's son, Mitchell Azariah, then
20, found Brianna underwater and unresponsive. He yelled for his mother
and ran upstairs to her, where Barbara Wright, a registered nurse,
began CPR.
When police arrived at the home in the 1600 block of Darlene Street,
the bathtub had been drained. There was, however, a ring 16 to 18
inches up and some human feces in the drain.
Brianna was taken to St. Paul Children's Hospital. She died the next
morning. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office ruled the manner
of her death was accidental, said chief investigator Don Gorrie. If
investigators get more evidence, that could change, he said.No one answered the phone or the door at the Wrights' home
Wednesday. Although officers who responded to a call to their home in
the summer of 2008 noted that the "residence was clean and all three of
the children inside ... appeared clean and cared for," that wasn't the
case on July 1.
"The house was in general disarray with clothes strewn about, food
lying around, toys on the floor, couch, chairs and small tables," the
complaint said. "The air smelled of dirty diapers. In the kitchen,
officers observed dirty dishes and old food on the tables, the counters
and in the sink. There was garbage piled on the corner."
Police records show 14 calls to the Wrights' house in five years. On
June 4, 2008, Barbara Wright called 911 "continually." She was
seemingly frantic after her husband left the house to "cool down" after
an argument and said she was "emotionally unable to care for the
children" when alone, police said.
Other police calls to the home have "run the gamut" from
domestic-related calls to theft from auto to curfew violations, police
spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell said.
The complaint filed this week said Brianna had a history of seizures
because of a "nonaccidental traumatic head injury" inflicted when she
was 4 months old. The Ramsey County Attorney's office could not find
any evidence Wednesday that anyone was charged in that incident.
Brianna was in a special education program through the St. Paul
schools. Her teacher, Julie Revoir, said Daniel Wright was well aware
of the girl's limitations. While Brianna was able to sit on her own and
could crawl, she had balance problems and couldn't yet pull herself up
to standing, the complaint said.
The case against Wright is being handled by a prosecutor from the
Washington County Attorney's office to avoid a conflict of interest.
Brianna was placed in the Wrights' care by Ramsey County child
protection. It was unclear how many foster children the Wrights had
when Brianna died. They have not had any since then.
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