Baby found dead at Homestead daycare had skull fracture for at least a week, officials say
A Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s office report details an injury a 9-month-old boy suffered before he was found unresponsive at a daycare in Homestead last year.
The report, released Monday, said Tayvon Tomlin suffered a “partially healed skull fracture” that was seven to 12 days old, according to NBC 6. Tayvon had just began walking in the weeks before his death, leading investigators to consider that the fracture could have been the result of an accidental fall.
Tayvon’s cause of death, however, is still undetermined, according to NBC6. Tomlin family attorney Michael Levine told the Miami Herald that the family is concerned about “what else they don’t know as far as Tayvon’s time at the daycare” because they never saw the infant fall or get injured.
“The reports of the skull fractures are concerning, particularly if they happened at the daycare, which did not have working cameras in the infant room,” Levine said in a statement.
“Although the medical examiner could not determine the cause of death, we know the daycare’s negligence is the reason why Tayvon is no longer with us today.”
In July, Tayvon was found lifeless by a daycare worker at Lincoln-Marti Daycare, 510 Krome Ave. The child’s parents and other family members — who rushed to the scene — said he appeared “energetic” before he was dropped off that morning. Grandfather Sean Tomlin told the Miami Herald that he played with the infant before he was taken to school.
A daycare worker can be seen in a series of videos holding the unresponsive child almost upside down while patting him on the back repeatedly for about 30 seconds. All Tayvon wore was a white diaper. Two other brief clips, both less than 20 seconds long, show a woman walking, cradling the lifeless child and giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation a few times.
In August, the Tomlin family sued the Lincoln Marti Community Agency and its workers, accusing them of negligence. The lawsuit alleged that the daycare didn’t have enough staff members, didn’t train its workers properly and left children unattended.
The lawsuit cited the Childcare Facility Handbook, which governs the laws and requirements for daycare centers in Florida. While state rules call for one worker for every four children, the lawsuit says the day Tayvon died, a lone worker oversaw eight children.
READ MORE: Homestead daycare center agrees to $5 million settlement after death of infant
In January, the owners of Lincoln-Marti Daycare agreed to a $5 million dollar settlement with the Tomlin family. As part of the agreement, the grieving family dropped the lawsuit.
“I’m still hurting,” Tayvon’s mother Keiara Whorely, 25, said in January. “Something is missing. My son is missing.”
Miami Herald staff writer Charles Rabin contributed to this report
