A woman from Bloomington, Minnesota and her adult daughter have been indicted on multiple charges of manslaughter in the death of a 22-month-old boy who was found strapped in a car seat in the woman’s home day care center last summer. He died two days later. Doris D. Meeks, 48, and Harmony S. Newman, 21, were indicted by a grand jury on Thursday.
Each is facing three counts of second degree manslaughter in connection with child neglect, child endangerment and culpable negligence. “The allegation in the indictment is that there was not proper supervision…we adamantly deny that,” stated Craig Cascarano, Meeks’ lawyer.
Demar Joseph-Amir Hicks was found unconscious after a few hours of napping at Mama D’s Day Care. An autopsy discovered that he had been oxygen deprived for an extended period of time,” Dakota County is currently handling the case because one of Demar’s grandparents works for the Hennepin County attorney’s office, potentially creating a conflict of interest.
Prosecutors are saying that the boy was found in a car seat in a playpen in the basement, with one of the seat buckles under his chin. He wasn’t breathing and had no heartbeat. His heart was restarted by paramedics as he was taken to Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina.
Mama D’s was only licensed to have 14 children in their care, however, the day that young Demar was found there were 23 in the home. This is an example of daycare abuse to the extreme.