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172 Chapter Fifteen The Tragic Case of a Small Child  Eritrea, a small African country, found itself embroiled in civil war in 1984. A six-year-old girl, Frewoini, immigrated to the United States with her family to avoid the dangers in her homeland. Her life in the United States was difficult, even though she was living with her family. When she was sixteen, Frewoini left home, met a man, and was soon pregnant with his child. The two lived together for more than a year, during which Frewoini gave birth to a daughter. Frewoini and the child’s father soon separated. She later went to work for a call center and met another man, Lamont Johnson. The two dated for several months before Frewoini ended the relationship . She was introduced to another man and became pregnant with a boy, Thomas, who was born in January 2000. When Thomas was four months old, Frewoini again began to date Johnson. Although Thomas had been fathered by another man, Johnson seemed to Frewoini to be content with their relationship. Johnson would care for Thomas and his older sister when Frewoini was at work or away from home. One day in July, Frewoini went to work. Thomas and his older sister were being cared for by Johnson. When Frewoini returned after her work day, Johnson told her that Thomas had fallen off the bed. Frewoini could see that Thomas’s face was a little red, but he was alert, acting normally, and otherwise seemed to be fine. The next day, however, she could see bruising on his face and called a nurse on the telephone for advice. She was referred to Children’s Hospital. When Frewoini spoke to someone at the hospital, she was told to bring Thomas in as soon as possible. Frewoini couldn’t immediately drive Thomas to Children’s because Johnson was away from home with the car and Frewoini couldn’t contact him. When he did return, both drove R4400.indb 172 R4400.indb 172 8/24/07 11:46:51 AM 8/24/07 11:46:51 AM 173 The Tragic Case of a Small Child Thomas to Children’s Hospital. The doctors there believed Thomas’s injuries were not the result of a fall but were caused by abuse. Thomas was kept in the hospital overnight for observation and temporarily placed in protective custody. Thomas was examined further and was found to have injuries to his face that doctors believed couldn’t have been the result of a fall off a bed. However, his laboratory results and X-rays were normal. After staying in Children’s for a few days, Thomas was placed temporarily in a foster home. Juvenile Court proceedings were begun, and Frewoini was granted custody of her son. She had to agree, however, not to continue to see Johnson or to permit her children to be in his company. But Frewoini didn’t believe that Thomas’s injuries were caused by Johnson, so she continued to have contact with him despite the agreement. In September, Frewoini and her two children went to Johnson’s home to stay for the weekend. On one of those days Frewoini left the house at dinnertime to go to work at the call center. After she arrived, Johnson telephoned her and asked her to come home because, Johnson said, Thomas was choking. Johnson was trained as a nursing assistant and was familiar with lifesaving techniques. He even owned a pair of stethoscopes. Thomas’s sister saw Johnson take Thomas into another room; she heard Thomas whine and cry, then stop. He then began to cry again, and once again he stopped. Johnson returned to the main room with Thomas, who seemed to his sister to be asleep. Johnson had the sister listen to the little boy’s heartbeat with one of the stethoscopes. She could hear his heart beating quickly, but she thought Thomas was dead because his eyes were closed. Johnson then made his telephone call to Frewoini at work. Frewoini arrived home and saw that Thomas was neither moving nor breathing. His mouth was blue. Frewoini tried to administer CPR but she wasn’t sure how to do it. Johnson stood nearby. Frewoini dialed 911 and ran outside the house with Thomas to try to find help. Paramedics arrived and found Thomas near death. He was taken to a hospital , but efforts to revive him failed, and he was declared dead. When doctors tried to save Thomas...

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