Officials continue investigation into day care incidents

ALBANY — Albany officials said Saturday that as they looked deeper into a pair of incidents in which one child died and another was severely burned at an east Albany day care facility, more questions have arisen.

Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler, who’d been asked by The Albany Herald Friday about the autopsy report concerning a child that had died in October 2017 under the care of the Open Hearts and Minds Learning Center LLC, located at 1525 E. Broad Ave., said he had spoken with the medical examiner who confirmed that three “centimeter-size marks” were found on 5-month-old Osai Kai Sanders’ head. He said that trauma may or may not have contributed to the child’s death.

“The medical examiner told me that the marks on the baby’s head were unexplained,” Fowler said. “It was unclear whether that trauma caused the baby’s death, but the question is how did it get there.”

The day care facility remains under investigation, according to officials with the Albany Police Department and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), after 7-month-old Asher Williams was reportedly burned severely while in the charge of a caretaker at the facility on Monday.

According to police reports, the same Regina Mango, who is listed as the director of Open Hearts and Minds Learning Center, and Quanchina Robinson both were involved in the care of Asher Williams. Both were also said to be in contact with Sanders on the day he died.

“DECAL is currently investigating Open Hearts and Minds Learning Center LLC for alleged violations of diapering areas and practices, children’s health, and hygiene,” DECAL Chief Communications Officer Reg Griffin said Friday. “The incident was reported to us on Tuesday. Because this is an open investigation, I cannot comment further at this time.”

According to reports, Asher Williams’ mother, Brittany Williams, told authorities that when she picked up her young son from Open Hearts and Minds Learning Center Monday afternoon, he was badly burned.

“Brittany advised that once she arrived at the day care she felt something was wrong, because Asher was being held by his teacher Mrs. Robinson in her arm,” Officer Lashana Hudson wrote in an Albany Police Department report. “Brittany stated as she entered the building Director Ms. Mango approached her and stated she had something to tell her. Brittany advised that she, Ms. Mango and Mrs. Robinson entered a room where Mrs. Robinson told her Asher made a mess, pooped in his clothing. Brittany stated that Mrs. Robinson told her she rinsed Asher off by placing him underneath running water. Brittany advised Mrs. Robinson then stated she believes the water was too hot.”

According to reports, Williams observed redness to her son’s skin on his stomach and legs, and by the time she arrived home that redness had turned into blisters. Williams transported her son to Phoebe North Hospital, where it was determined that the burns were severe enough to fly the child to the Augusta Burn Center.

“The lead detectives working the case say no arrests have been made at this time and the incident remains under investigation,” APD spokeswoman Phyllis Banks said Friday. “Hospital staff discharged the 7-month-old male from an Augusta hospital after being flown there on April 3.”

Police responded to Open Hearts and Minds Learning Center on Oct. 3, 2017, from which 5-month-old Osai Kai Sanders was taken to a local hospital and later pronounced dead.

“Osai Kai Sanders was 5 months, 29 days old,” Fowler told The Albany Herald on Oct. 3, 2017. “I pronounced the boy deceased at 6:44 p.m. at the hospital. Both the mother, Darquirra Sanders, and the baby live here in town. She went to pick up her baby at the nursery, and they found the child unresponsive.”

Fowler was contacted Friday in reference to the results of the Sanders death investigation, and the coroner said those results had only recently been returned from the GBI Crime Lab.

After pulling the autopsy results, Fowler said he was surprised.

“Initially, the report says ‘sudden unexplained infant death,’ meaning that it is unknown what the cause of death is, but there is something else here that I don’t understand,” he said. “At the time of the child’s death, we did not see any obvious injuries. That’s why we sent the child to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy. We did not know why the baby died. He didn’t have any medical history that we knew of.

“But later on in the autopsy report it lists ‘blunt force trauma’ to the head. So I am waiting for the medical examiner who performed the autopsy to call me back. I need her to explain that to me. Something happened to that baby. Why would the baby have blunt force trauma to the head? This is a huge red flag for me.”

Officials with Open Hearts and Minds refused to comment Friday.

“I responded to 1525 East Broad Avenue (Open Hearts and Minds Learning Center),” Officer Brentten Laethem wrote in the Oct. 3, 2017 APD police report. “I made contact with Regina Mango (Director) and Quanchina Robinson at the entrance of the day care facility. Mango said a 6-month-old boy (Osai Sanders) was given to his mother at approximately 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2017. Robinson said she handed Osai over to parent and the child was still moving his head. They said the mother called EMS. EMS arrived and took the mother and child to Phoebe Main Hospital.”

Sanders was pronounced deceased less than an hour later.

“I hope there will be a deeper investigation into this,” Fowler said Saturday. “With the trauma to the baby’s head, now a second baby has been injured and the two same people are involved, is definitely a cause for some concern.”

Asked about the coroner’s comments, DECAL officials had little to add.

“In a case like this, local law enforcement always investigates the death of the child while DECAL determines if any child care rules or regulations were violated,” Griffin responded to The Herald’s request for further comment. “In the October 2017 incident at Open Hearts and Minds, we could not substantiate any rule violations. We would look to local authorities as to a need to reopen the case and would cooperate with them in any way possible.”